State of Jharkhand v. Shiv Shankar Sharma and Ors.
SUDHANSHU DHULIA, J.
Leave granted.
1.The above two petitions have been filed before this C ourt by
the State of Jharkhand through the Resident Commissioner, challenging
the orders dated 03.06.2022 passed by the Division Bench of the High
Court of Jharkhand, where the High Court has ordered that the PILs
filed by respondent no.1 before the Jharkhand High Court are
maintainable, and thus the High Court decided to proceed with the matter
on its merits. The petitioner here poses a challeng e to the very
maintainability of these two PILs. After hearing the p arties at length,
this Court vide its order dated 17.08.2022 had reserved its orders and
directed that meanwhile the High Court shall not proceed further w ith
the matter.
2. The question before this Court is whether the petitions which
have been filed before the Jharkhand High Court in the form of Public
Interest Litigations are maintainable in view of the set tled position of
law laid down by this Court in several of its earlier decisions. The question
1151
is also whether these PILs comply with the provisions of the Rules relating
to the Public Interest Litigations, which is the Jharkhand Hig h Court
(Public Interest Litigation) Rules, 2010 (for short “Rules, 2010”) and if
they do not, were the petitions filed as PILs liable to be dismissed at the
very threshold if they were not in compliance of the provisions of the
above Rules relating to PIL.
3. Two public interest litigations petitions were filed befo re the
Jharkhand High Court by the same person, i.e., Sri Shiv Shankar Sharma.
In the first Writ Petition (PIL) No. 4290 of 2021 the following relief was
sought: -
“A. For the direction upon the respondents specially respondent’s
especially respondent no. 31 to enquire into the money transferred
of Soren Family in the name of respondent no.’s, 8 to 13 and may
also submit the report to Income Tax Department as to how t he
companies which are 28 in numbers have been used as a parking
place for ill gotten money.
B. For the direction upon the respondent no. 3 to investigate the
sources of income of respondent no. 8 to 13 as because they
being the close friends of Hemant Soren and Basant Soren have
invested the money in number of companies as chain of hotels as
it is shown that the owner is Ranjan Sahu and the Hotlips chain of
hotels and restaurants which was situated in a small area near the
Chief Minister’s residents and later on removed have transformed
into six hotel chains situated at Kanke Road, Ratan Lal Complex,
Ratu Road, Lalpur, Hinoo and Kamre.
C. For the direction upon the respondent no. 42 also to investigate
the financial crime committed by Hemant Soren which income
has given to Ravi Kejriwal as he is connected to him sin ce
childhood and also having close connection with Ranjan Sahu, the
so called owner of Hotlips Chain of hotels and restaurants and
may also investigate as at which point of time and place Mr. Hemant
Soren has committed illegality and earned crores of rupees and
invested in the name of these persons.
D. For the direction upon the respondent no. 5 to investigate the
money trail of crime proceed lying with respondent no. 8 t o 13
1 Respondent No.3 is the Central Bureau of Investiga tion.
2 Respondent No.4 is the Enforcement Directorate.
STATE OF JHARKHAND v. SHIV SHANKAR SHARMA
AND ORS. [SUDHANSHU DHULIA, J.]
and they have amassed the huge wealth and returning the money
at the time of election to Jharkhand Mukti Morcha headed by
Hemant Soren.
E. For any other of the relief or reliefs as this Hon’ble Court may
deem fit and proper in the light of the facts of this case.”
In the Second Writ Petition (PIL) No. 727 of 2022 the following
relief was sought: -
“A. For the direction upon the respondent No.9 to grant sanction
for prosecution, to prosecute the “The Chief Minister Cum, Minister
Department of Mines, for act of misuse of office and getting the
Mining Lease done in his own name, although, he bei ng a
Departmental Minister/Chief Minister cannot do business (Article
191(9) of Constitution) of mining, and also committed criminal
act, so he is liable to be prosecuted under Section 7(A) and 13(I)(d)
of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 & Section 169 of IPC, and
also to cancel his membership of assembly of Jharkhand, and also
he has violated section 9 of the Peoples’ Representation Act, 1950
& lastly, he has contravened the code of conduct framed by Union
Government for the Hon’ble Chief Minister & Ministers of States.
B. For the direction upon the respondents especially respondent
No. 1, the Chief Secretary, Jharkhand to protect the relevant file
of Department of Mines wherein, the mining lease of Angadha
Mauza, Thana No. 26, Khata No. 187, Plot No. 482, Area 0.88
Acre for that Letter of intent (LOI) was issued on 16.0 6.21,
approval of mining plan was given on 10.07.21, mining plan approved
on 09.09.21 & finally on 09.09.21 the respondent No. 7 has given
application, which was approved in its 90th meeting dated 14-18
September, 2021, within such a short time although, the SEIAA
has given environmental clearance to new High Court building
after so many months, ANDA, directions may be issued to Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI) & Enforcement Directorate to
investigate the crime committed by respondent no. 7 & 8.
C. For the direction upon the respondent CBI especially also t o
investigate the history illegal mining committed by the person like
the respondent No. 7 and due to his influence, illegal mining is
done to public properties sold by Mr. Soren against the provisions
of law to himself only.
1153
D. For any other of the relief or reliefs as this Hon’ble Court may
deem fit and proper in the light of the facts of this case.”
In both these writ petitions the respondents which, inter a lia,
included the State of Jharkhand as well as the incumbent Chief Minister,
Mr. Hemant Soren. A preliminary objection as to the maintainability of
the writ petition was raised by these two respondents. Objections were
also raised that the writ petitions do not disclose the particul ars and
credentials of the petitioner nor does it follow the procedure as mandated
by the Rules, i.e., Rule 4, 4A, 4B,5 of the Rules, 2010.
4. Since, the Court nevertheless proceeded with the matter , the
petitioner had earlier filed a petition before this Court challenging the
proceedings before the Jharkhand High Court in the form of these two
Public Interest Litigations. The matter came up before a Division Bench
of this Court and the following orders were passed on 24.05.2022 i n
SLP (C) Nos. 9728-9730 of 2022:
“A batch of three writ petitions is pending before the Di vision
Bench of the High Court of Jharkhand:
(i) (In Writ Petition (PIL) No 4632 of 2019; the petitioner,
Arun Kumar Dubey, seeks, inter alia, a direction to
the Directorate of Enforcement to investigate 15 FIRs
pertaining to alleged offences arising out of the
disbursement of MANREGA funds to Khunti Zila
Parishad implicating offences under Sections 406, 409,
420, 423, 429, 465 and 1208 of the Indian Penal Code
and Sections 11. 12(2) and 13(1)(e) of the Prevention
of Corruption Act, 1988;
(ii) In Writ Petition (PIL) No 4290 of 2021; the petitioner,
Shiv Shankar Sharma seeks a direction for an
investigation into the alleged transfer of SLP Cr. 9729-
9730/2022 monies by the Soren family in the names
of respondent Nos 8 to 13 through the instrumentality
of certain shell companies; and
(iii) In Writ Petition (PIL) No 727 of 2022; the petitioner
Shiv Shankar Sharma seeks a direction for
sanctioning the prosecution of the Chief Minister for
obtaining a mining lease in his own name implicating
STATE OF JHARKHAND v. SHIV SHANKAR SHARMA
AND ORS. [SUDHANSHU DHULIA, J.]
offences under the provisions of the Prevention of
Corruption Act, 1988 and the Indian Penal Code.
5. On 22 April 2022, when Writ Petition (PIL) No 4290 of 2021
came up before a Division Bench presided over by the Chief
justice, the Court recorded the submission of the counsel for the
State that “an identical writ petition was dismissed with costs by
this Court filed by the same counsel and the matter went up to the
Supreme Court” where the Special Leave Petition was dismissed.
After issuing certain procedural directions for the impleadement
of the Registrar of Companies, the Division Bench directed that
the proceedings in Writ Petition (PIL) No 4290 of 2021 be placed
along with the records of Writ Petition (PIL) No 4218 of 2013 on
1.3 May 2022.
6. On 13 May, 2022, the High Court, inter alia, noted the submissions
of the State of Jharkhand objecting to the maintainability of the
petition. This was dealt with in the following extract:
“At this juncture, Mr Kapil Sibal, learned Senior Advocate,
appearing for the State of Jharkhand, has made a submission
that he has to raise a preliminary objection regarding the
maintainability of the case itself.
We would consider the preliminary objection and then the merit
also, if required, on the next date of hearing”
7. The High Court posted the proceedings on 17 May 2022. On
17 May 2022, the High Court, after perusing a sealed cover which
was tendered on behalf of the Directorate of Enforcement, noted
the submission of the petitioner that WP (PIL) No 4362 of 2019
may be placed along side the petition which the High Court was
considering on the next date of hearing and accordingly the
proceedings were adjourned to 19 May 2022. On 19 May 2022,
the High Court has passed separate orders in Writ Petition (PIL)
Nos 727 of 2022, 4632 of 2019 and 4290 of 2021. The High Court
posted the proceedings on 24 May 2022.
8. The Special Leave Petitions have been instituted by the State
of Jharkhand in order to challenge the orders dated 13 May 2022
and 17 May 2022 in Writ Petition (PIL) No 4290 of 2021.
9. We have heard Mr Kapil Sibal, senior counsel appearing on
behalf of the State of Jharkhand, Mr Mukul Rohatgi, senior counsel
1155
appearing on behalf of the sixth respondent (Shri Hemant Soren)
and Mr Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General appearing on behalf of
the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Directo rate of
Enforcement.
10. The sequence of events narrated in the earlier part of the
present order indicates that the High Court had, by its order dated
13 May 2022, specifically noted that it would consider the primary
objection to the maintainability of Writ Petition (PIL) No 4290 of
2021 and deal with the merits thereafter, if required, on the next
date of hearing.
11. Mr Kapil Sibal, senior counsel appearing on behalf of the
petitioner has adverted to the provisions of the Jharkhand Hig h
Court (Public Interest Litigation) Rules, 2010, more particularly
the provisions of Rules 4, 4-A, 4-B and 5.
12. Since the High Court has observed in its order dated 13 May
2022 that it would deal with the maintainability of the petit ion
upfront, we are of the considered view that it would be appropriate
in the interests of justice that the Division Bench presided over by
the learned Chief justice does so before without proceeding to the
merits of the public interest litigation.
13. The issue of maintainability should be dealt with by the High
Court on the next date of listing when the proceedings are taken
up. Based on the outcome of the objections to the maintainability
of the proceedings, the High Court may thereafter proceed in
accordance with law.
14. The Special Leave Petitions are disposed of in the above terms.
15. This Court has had no occasion to deal with the merits of the
rival contentions which arise in the Special Leave Petitions or nor
has it become necessary for this Court to express any view on
the allegations which are levelled in the writ petition since that is
a matter which is pending consideration before the High Court.
16. Pending applications, if any, stand disposed of.”
5. Thus, consequent to the orders of this Court dated 24.05.2022,
the Jharkhand High Court before proceeding with the matter had to first
give its finding on the maintainability of the two PILs. The High Court
after hearing the petitioner as well as the respondents has c ome to a
STATE OF JHARKHAND v. SHIV SHANKAR SHARMA
AND ORS. [SUDHANSHU DHULIA, J.]
conclusion that an extremely serious matter has been raised in the PILs,
where there are allegations of large-scale corruption at the hands of the
present Chief Minister of Jharkhand, and even though there may be
some procedural irregularities in filing of the public interest litigations
that should not come in the way of the Court in entertaining the petition,
which is in public interest. Moreover, as to the Rules, (i.e., Rules 4, 4-A,
4-B, 5 of the Rules, 2010) which we shall refer shortly, it has been held
that they are directory and not mandatory in nature. Consequentl y, by
order dated 03.06.2022 the Court has held that the PILs are maintainable
and shall be dealt on its merit. This order has presently been challenged
before this Court.
6. As referred above we are concerned with two writ petitio ns
filed by the private respondent No.1 (i.e., Shiv Shankar Sharma) as Public
Interest Litigations before Jharkhand High Court. The first writ petition
is Writ Petition (PIL) No. 4290 of 2021, where a prayer has been made
to direct the Directorate General Income Tax, Investigation to enquire
into the money transferred by the Soren family in the nam e of private
respondents through the shell companies and also to investigate the source
of income of private respondents and to investigate the financial crime
committed by respondent No.6 i.e. Hemant Soren, the present C hief
Minister of Jharkhand, among other reliefs sought in the petitions.
7. The second Writ Petition (PIL) No. 727 of 2022 is the one
where a direction has been sought to prosecute the Chief Minister, who
is also the Minister in the Department of Mines. The reason being that
he has misused his office in getting a mining lease in his own name. As
far as the second writ petition is concerned, a reply has been filed by the
State of Jharkhand before the Jharkhand High Court as well a s by the
Chief Minister, Mr. Hemant Soren that full facts of the cas e have not
been stated by the petitioner in the petition and he has deli berately
suppressed the material facts. The mining lease which is alleged to have
been made in favour of the Chief Minister is on a land situated in Angadha
Mauza, Thana No. 26, Khata No.187, Plot No.482 and the total Area of
the land is only 0.88 Acres. It was allotted to Mr. Hemant S oren for a
period of 10 years between 17.05.2008 to 17.05.2018 after the expiry of
the lease period of 10 years an application for its renewal was made
belatedly by Mr. Hemant Soren on 06.06.2018 and by that time the lease
had lapsed. Subsequently by way of Gazette Notification No.1 of 2021
which was issued on 27.03.2021, fresh applications for the mining lease
1157
were invited. A letter of intent was given in favour of Mr. Hemant Soren
on 16.06.2021. All the same on 04.02.2022 the respondent No. 7, i.e.,
Mr. Hemant Soren wrote to District Mining Officer, Ranchi for
surrendering mining lease with immediate effect. As per Section 26 of
Jharkhand Minor Mineral Concession Rules, 2004 a demand for advance
of six months of royalty to be deposited by Mr. Hemant Soren and the
mining lease was surrendered and was accepted under the Rules on
11.02.2022. Therefore, according to the respondent at the time of filing
of the second writ petition (PIL) No.727 of 2022, there was no mining
lease in favour of respondent No. 7 as it had already stood surrendered.
In its reply dated 05.05.2022, the State of Jharkhand has also stated that
although the lease was renewed in favour of the Mr. Hemant Soren no
mining activity or extraction of stone took place on the mini ng lease
area. Further, in this regard if any anomaly has been commi tted and
respondent No. 7 has to suffer a disqualification from his office, for
having a mining lease in his favour, the matter in this regard is pending
inquiry before the Election Commission of India in a Referenc e case
No. 3(G) of 2022 which is registered on the reference received from the
Hon’ble Governor of Jharkhand under Article 1923 of the Constitution of
India. The Election Commission of India has issued a notice to the Chief
Secretary on 08.04.2022 seeking certain information which had been
duly supplied by the State vide its letter dated 26.04.2022. In other words,
this matter as regarding the mining lease in favour of the Chief Minister,
i.e., Mr. Hemant Soren and his disqualification from office, is pending
consideration with the Election Commission of India. So much for the
second writ petition which in our view is totally an abuse of the process
of this Court.
8. Regarding the first Writ Petition No. (PIL) 4290 of 2021 t he
allegations which had been made of money laundering and money being
invested in shell companies are again mere allegations. T he petitioner
has actually sought an investigation by the Court. It prays for a writ of
mandamus in this regard to the Investigating Agencies such as CBI or
Enforcement Directorate to investigate. This in our view is again an
3 Article 192. Decision on questions as to disqualif ications of members—
(1) If any question arises as to whether a member o f a House of the Legislature of a
State has become subject to any of the disqualifica tions mentioned in clause (1) of
article 191, the question shall be referred for the decision of the Governor and his
decision shall be final.
(2) Before giving any decision on any such question , the Governor shall obtain the
opinion of the Election Commission and shall act according to such opinion
STATE OF JHARKHAND v. SHIV SHANKAR SHARMA
AND ORS. [SUDHANSHU DHULIA, J.]
abuse of the process of the Court, as the petition is short of wild and
sweeping allegations, there is nothing placed before the Court which in
any way may be called to be prima facie evidence. Moreover, the locus
of the petitioner is questionable and the clear fact that he has not
approached the Court with clean hands makes it a case which was
liable to be dismissed at the very threshold.
9. This Court in Kunga Nima Lepcha v. State of Sikkim4under
similar circumstances has held that a writ court is not an ap propriate
forum for seeking an initiation of such an investigation. A reference to
the facts of Kunga Nima Lepcha (supra) would be relevant for our
purposes. In the above case, a writ petition under Artic le 32 of the
Constitution was filed directly before this Court where the petitioner had
alleged that the incumbent Chief Minister of the Sta te of Sikkim
(impleaded respondent No.2) had misused his public office and had
amassed assets disproportionate to his known source of income. It was
also alleged that the Chief Minister has misappropriated a large volume
of public money at the cost of Government of India and the Government
of Sikkim. Thus, the relief sought by the petitioner was for issuance of
writ of mandamus directing the CBI to investigate the alle gations that
have been made against the Chief Minister. This Court decl ined to
intervene in the matter holding that a constitutional court is not a forum
to seek redressal of this nature. The remedies evolved by way of writ
jurisdiction are of extraordinary nature and reliefs cannot be granted as
a matter of due course, where the statutory remedies are av ailable to
the petitioner. In Paras 14 to 17 of the judgement it was said as follows:
“14. In the present petition, the petitioners have made a r ather
vague argument that the alleged acts of corruption on part of Shri
Pawan Chamling amount to an infringement of Article 14 of the
Constitution of India. We do not find any merit in this assertion
because the guarantee of “equal protection before the law” or
“equality before the law” is violated if there is an unreasonab le
discrimination between two or more individuals or between two
or more classes of persons. Clearly, the alleged ac ts of
misappropriation from the public exchequer cannot b e
automatically equated with a violation of the guarantee of “equal
protection before the law”.
15. Furthermore, we must emphasise the fact that the all eged
acts can easily come within the ambit of statutory offences such
4 (2010) 4 SCC 513
1159
as those of “possession of assets disproportionate to known sources
of income” as well as “criminal misconduct” under the Prevention
of Corruption Act, 1988. The onus of launching an investigation
into such matters is clearly on the investigating agencies such as
the State Police, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or the
Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) among others. It is not
proper for this Court to give directions for initiating such an
investigation under its writ jurisdiction.
16. While it is true that in the past, the Supreme Court of India as
well as the various High Courts have indeed granted remedies
relating to investigations in criminal cases, we must make a careful
note of the petitioners’ prayer in the present case. In the past,
writ jurisdiction has been used to monitor the progress of ongoing
investigations or to transfer ongoing investigations from one
investigating agency to another. Such directions have been given
when a specific violation of fundamental rights is shown, which
could be the consequence of apathy or partiality on the part of
investigating agencies among other reasons. In some cases, judicial
intervention by way of writ jurisdiction is warranted on account
of obstructions to the investigation process such as material threats
to witnesses, the destruction of evidence or undue pressure from
powerful interests. In all of these circumstances, the writ court
can only play a corrective role to ensure that the integrity of the
investigation is not compromised. However, it is not viable for a
writ court to order the initiation of an investigation. That function
clearly lies in the domain of the executive and it is up to the
investigating agencies themselves to decide whether the material
produced before them provides a sufficient basis to launch an
investigation.
17. It must also be borne in mind that there are provisions in the
Code of Criminal Procedure which empower the courts of firs t
instance to exercise a certain degree of control over ongoin g
investigations. The scope for intervention by the trial court is hence
controlled by statutory provisions and it is not advisable for the
writ courts to interfere with criminal investigations in the absence
of specific standards for the same.”
10. This Court, thus declined to interfere in the matter holding that
the petitioner must approach the investigating agencies directly with the
STATE OF JHARKHAND v. SHIV SHANKAR SHARMA
AND ORS. [SUDHANSHU DHULIA, J.]
incriminating material and then it is for the investigating agencies to decide
on the further course of action. Although an apprehension was raised by
this Court that it is possible that the efforts of the petitioner to uncover
alleged corruption may be obstructed by entrenched i nterests, yet
statutory remedies available to the petitioner must be f irst exhausted
and only thereafter can he approach the High Court. In the present case
no such effort has been made by the respondent (i.e., the petitione r in
the PIL) to approach the statutory authorities in any manner whatsoever.
The fundamental requirement for the issuance of a writ of mandamus is
that the petitioner must have sought such a relief before the appropriate
authority and only when it is denied the Court can be approached for a
writ a mandamus. This principle cannot be ignored merely because this
Court is dealing with a Public Interest Litigation. With r egard to the
present Public Interest Litigations before us, it is an admitted fact that
the respondent has not taken any steps in approaching the st atutory
authorities or made any effort in the registration of an FIR.
11. Public Interest Litigation was a novel form adopted by this
Court in the late 1970’s and the early 1980’s to hear the gri evances of
the vast section of the society which were poor, marginalized and had no
means to reach the Supreme Court for articulating their gri evance. It
was thus the Public Interest Litigation which became the means by which
a voice was given to this large voiceless section of our s ociety (See:
State of Uttaranchal v. Balwant Singh Chaufal & Ors.5 M.C. Mehta
v. Union of India & Ors. 6). The strict procedures of the Court were
dispensed in a PIL, and in its early stages a PIL could also be entertained
on a mere letter, or a postcard! It is for these reasons it has also come to
be known as epistolary jurisdiction. This Court in Balwant Singh Chaufal
(supra) while dealing with origin and development of PIL in this country
has divided its growth into three phases which has been given in its Para
43 as under: -
“Phase-I: It deals with cases of this Court where directi ons and
orders were passed primarily to protect fundamental rights
under Article 21 of the marginalized groups and sections of the
society who because of extreme poverty, illiteracy and ignorance
cannot approach this court or the High Courts.
5 (2010) 3 SCC 402
6 (1987) 1 SCC 395
1161
Phase-II: It deals with the cases relating to protection, preservation
of ecology, environment, forests, marine life, wildlife, mountains,
rivers, historical monuments etc. etc.
Phase-III: It deals with the directions issued by the Court s in
maintaining the probity, transparency and integrity in governance.”
This Court then traced the abuse of the Public Interest Litigation
and observed that this important jurisdiction has come to be abused, at
the hands of ill motivated individuals, busy bodies and publicity seekers.
A reference was then made to the cases of BALCO Employees’
Union (Regd). v. Union of India & Ors. 7 and Neetu v. State of
Punjab8where frivolous cases filed as PILs were discouraged and even
costs were imposed on the petitioner in such cases. The cre dentials of
the applicant who files a PIL was held to be of extreme importance as
also the correctness of the nature of information given by the petitioner
which had to be clear, not vague or indefinite or even generalized. It was
also held that nobody should be allowed to indulge in wild and reckless
allegations, demeaning the character of others. The following directions
were given in Para 181 of Balwant Singh Chaufal (supra): -
“(1) The Courts must encourage genuine and bona fide PIL and
effectively discourage and curb the PIL filed for extr aneous
considerations.
(2) Instead of every individual Judge devising his own procedure
for dealing with the public interest litigation, it would be appropriate
for each High Court to properly formulate rules for encouraging
the genuine PIL and discouraging the PIL filed with obli que
motives. Consequently, we request that the High Courts who have
not yet framed the rules, should frame the rules within three months.
The Registrar General of each High Court is directed to ensure
that a copy of the rules prepared by the High Court is sent to the
Secretary General of this Court immediately thereafter.
(3) The Courts should prima facie verify the credentials of the
petitioner before entertaining a PIL.
(4) The Courts should be prima facie satisfied regardin g the
correctness of the contents of the petition before entertaining a
PIL.
7 (2002) 2 SCC 333
8 (2007) 10 SCC 614
STATE OF JHARKHAND v. SHIV SHANKAR SHARMA
AND ORS. [SUDHANSHU DHULIA, J.]
(5) The Courts should be fully satisfied that substantia l public
interest is involved before entertaining the petition.
(6) The Courts should ensure that the petition which involves larger
public interest, gravity and urgency must be given priority over
other petitions.
(7) The Courts before entertaining the PIL should ensure that the
PIL is aimed at redressal of genuine public harm or public injury.
The Court should also ensure that there is no personal gain, private
motive or oblique motive behind filing the public interest litigation.
(8) The Courts should also ensure that the petitions fi led by
busybodies for extraneous and ulterior motives must be discouraged
by imposing exemplary costs or by adopting similar novel methods
to curb frivolous petitions and the petitions filed for extrane ous
considerations.”
Consequent to above directions made by this Court in Balwant
Singh Chaufal (supra) every High Court has framed its rules for dealing
with Public Interest Litigation including the Jharkhand High Court. For
our purpose the relevant Rules would be Rules 4, 4-A, 4-B, 5 and 6.
These Rules are reproduced as under: -
“4. The petitioner in a Public Interest Litigation shall state in
clear terms the relief prayed for in paragraph-1 of the petition and
grounds in paragraph-2 thereof. In paragraph-3, the petitioner shall
give his/her full and complete details so as to reveal his/her interest,
credentials and qualifications relevant for the Public Interest
Litigation, along with a declaration that he/she has no personal
interest, direct or indirect, in the subject matter of Public Interest
Litigation. In addition, the petitioner shall set out all relevant facts
along with available supporting data, reports etc.
4-A. If a Public Interest Litigation is filed by a person on behalf
of a Body of Individuals, by whatever name called, whether
registered or unregistered and whether incorporated or not, the
petition must give full details and history of such Body, and must
also clearly specify the authority of that person to represent such
Body in that Litigation so as to make the decision therein binding
on all individuals of such Body.
4-B. Every Public Interest Litigation will chronologically mention
in detail all such other and earlier efforts with their result, which
1163
are within the petitioner’s knowledge, and which have been made
by the petitioner or others for obtaining the relief sought b y the
Public Interest Litigation.
5. To encourage only genuine and bona fide Public Interest
Litigation and discourage Public Interest Litigation filed for
extraneous considerations, the Bench hearing a Public Interest
Litigation shall first verify the prima facie credentials of the
Petitioner before entertaining any case as Public Interest
Litigation. Thereafter, notice may be issued to the Advocate
General or to any other authority to enable the Bench hearing the
matter to come to a prima facie satisfaction regarding the
correctness of the contents of the petition or information before
entertaining the same as Public Interest Litigation.
6. For the aforesaid purpose, a Public Interest Litigation, shall
first be listed with appropriate office notes under the heading “For
Orders” before the appropriate Division Bench.
6-A. The above procedure may be relaxed by the concerned
Bench, for reasons to be recorded, in cases which call for such
urgent intervention by the Court that it is not practicable to allow
the delay which may be caused in following the above procedure.”
The above Rules, 2010 were made pursuant to the directions of
the Supreme Court in the case of Balwant Singh Chaufal (supra). Rules
were to be framed so that it is no more left to the individua l judges to
devise their own procedure, but to ensure uniformity in entert aining a
PIL, and to encourage genuine PIL and discourage PIL which are filed
with oblique motive. In one of the directions, it was said as under:
“(2) Instead of every individual Judge devising his own procedure
for dealing with the public interest litigation, it would be appropriate
for each High Court to properly formulate rules for encouraging
the genuine PIL and discouraging the PIL filed with obli que
motives. Consequently, we request that the High Courts who have
not yet framed the rules, should frame the rules within three months.
The Registrar General of each High Court is directed to ensure
that a copy of the rules prepared by the High Court is sent to the
Secretary General of this Court immediately thereafter.”
Therefore, the importance of these Rules can never be
underestimated.
STATE OF JHARKHAND v. SHIV SHANKAR SHARMA
AND ORS. [SUDHANSHU DHULIA, J.]
12. What is of crucial significance in a Public Interest Litigation is
the bona fide of the petitioner who files the PIL. It is an extremely
relevant consideration and must be examined by the Court at t he very
threshold itself and this has to be done irrespective of the seemingly high
public cause being espoused by the petitioner in a PIL.
13. Let us now examine the nature of the PIL which is before us,
i.e., W.P. (PIL) No. 4290 of 2021. The petitioner who had filed this PIL
as well as the other PIL (W.P. (PIL) No. 727 of 2022), and the reliefs in
them have already been referred above. It is an admitt ed case that in
the year 2013 a similar petition was filed being W.P. (PIL) No. 4218 of
2013 (Diwan Indranil Sinha Vs State of Jharkhand and Ors.) which was
dismissed by the Division Bench of the Jharkhand High C ourt on
22.11.2013, with costs of Rs. 50,000/- and thereafter an SLP was filed
against this order before this Court which was also dismissed by order
dated 28.02.2014. What is necessary for our consideration is that though
the said petition was filed by a different person, i.e., Sri Diwan Indranil
Sinha, but this was in the knowledge of the petitioner in this PIL, as the
counsel for the petitioner in the earlier petition, i.e., in W.P. (PIL) No.
4218 of 2013, and the counsel in the present petition, are the s ame.
Therefore, it can be reasonably presumed that the dismissal of the W.P.
(PIL) No. 4218 of 2013 would be in the knowledge of the petitioner. Yet
the petitioner in W.P. (PIL) No. 4290 of 2021 did not even mention the
earlier writ petition or the fact that it was dismissed by the High Court
with costs on 22.11.2013. The fact that it was in the knowledge of the
petitioner is evident as in the petition (W.P. (PIL) No. 4290 of 2021), a
supplementary affidavit was filed on 20.04.2022 where the petiti oner
(Sri Shiv Shankar Sharma) does mention that one Diwan Indranil Sinha
(i.e., the petitioner in W.P. (PIL) No. 4218 of 2013) had approached
constitutional authorities about the alleged misdeeds of the Chief Minister
of Jharkhand. In Paras 3 and 4 the following was stated :
“3. That, the petitioner states that, prior to him one Late Di wan
Indranil Sinha has sent representations with all the details of the
companies & the documents in support of the illegal earnings before
the
Hon’ble President of India,
Hon’ble Home Minister
Hon’ble Governor Jharkhand,
1165
The Director C.B.I.
The Director, Enforcement Directorate
The Central Vigilance Commissioner
The Director, General, (Investigation, Income Tax.)
Photocopies of the receipts showing detailed representation sent
by Late Diwan Indranil Sinha before various authorities dt. 16.11.14
& 21.01.14 are annexed and marked as Annexure-4 Series to this
application.
4. That, the petitioner states that, the efforts taken earlier by Late
Diwan Indranil Sinha, wherein, the representation sent by him
has been received by the Central Bureau of Investigation, and
has enquired on their own Level and communicated to him Vide
Letter No. 376 dated 05.11.14, stating there in that
“3. You may, if so desire, approach the competent court or, suitable
direction in the matter.”
Thus, it is clear that, there was prima facie material available
before them, for proceeding in the matter.
Photocopy of the Letter No.376 dt. 5.11.14 of C.B.I. is annexed
and marked as Annexure-5 to this application.”
In the reply filed by the State of Jharkhand before the High Court
in W.P. No. (PIL) 4290 of 2021, an objection was taken regarding t he
suppression of the earlier writ petition being W.P. (PIL) No. 4218 of
2013 as well. Hence, it is clear that the petitioner did not approach this
Court with clean hands as he did not disclose the dismissal of the W.P.
(PIL) No. 4218 of 2013 by the Jharkhand High Court with costs (order
dated 22.11.2013), an order which was upheld by this Court in SLP No.
4886 of 2014 by order dated 28.02.2014. This is also a clear violation of
Rule, 4B of the Rules, 2010 which required the petitioner to disclose of
all similar efforts made in the past.
14. No doubt the above procedure as given in Rules 4, 4A, 4B
and 5 can be relaxed under Rule 6, for the reasons to be recorded by the
Court where the case calls for an urgent intervention by the Court and it
is not practicable to allow any delay to be caused in the matter. Presently,
there is no finding or order of the Jharkhand High Court that any further
delay in this matter would have made the petition infructuous or redundant,
STATE OF JHARKHAND v. SHIV SHANKAR SHARMA
AND ORS. [SUDHANSHU DHULIA, J.]
which may have justified the relaxation of the Rules. To t he contrary,
the Jharkhand High Court has held that Rules 4, 4A, 4B and 5 ar e not
mandatory but directory in nature in view of Rule 6-A and the refore
even though the Rules have not been followed that really will not come
in the way of the Court to entertain a PIL, since the nature of allegations
in the PIL was of a serious nature. This reasoning, in our view, is in teeth
of the decision of this Court in directions given by this Court in Balwant
Singh Chaufal (supra), as well as a clear violation of the Jharkhand
High Court Rules, primarily Rule 4-B.
15. At this stage, let us now see as to what the Jharkhand H igh
Court had to say in the year 2013, while dismissing W.P. (PIL) No. 4218
of 2013. While dismissing that PIL, with costs of Rs. 50,000/- it was said
as under: -
“17. Time and again, it has been held that Public Interest Litigation
is a weapon which has to be used with great care an d
circumspection and the judiciary has to be extremely caref ul to
see that behind the beautiful veil of ‘public interest’ an ugly private
malice, vested interest and/or publicity seeking is not l urking.
Though the parameters of ‘Public Interest Litigation’ have been
indicated by Hon’ble Supreme Court in large number of cas es,
yet unmindful of the real intention and objections, number of Public
Interest Litigation are filed.
18. The petitioner has not approached the concerned. authorities
at the relevant point of time. The petitioner has chosen to file this
Public Interest Litigation only after respondent No.1 0 has assumed
the Office of Chief Minister of the State of Jharkhand. We do not
find any bona fide in this Public Interest Litigation filed by the writ
petitioner and the writ petition is liable to be dismissed with cost.
19. In the facts and circumstances of the case, we are of the
view that there is no bona fide in the Public Interest Litigation
filed by the petitioner. The writ petition is dismissed with cost of
Rs. 50,000/-(fifty thousand). This amount, of course, w ill be
deposited by the petitioner within a period of 6(six) weeks from
today before the Jharkhand State Legal Services Authority, “Nyaya
Sadan”, Doranda, Ranchi. The Registry is hereby directed to send
a copy of this order to the Member Secretary, Jharkhand State
Legal Services Authority.”
1167
The dismissal of a similar PIL was a fact which was al so not
disclosed by the petitioner, which he would be duty bound to do so in
view of Rule 4-B of the Rules, 2010. This Court in the case of Ashok
Kumar Pandey v. State of West Bengal & Ors. 9 had this to say on
the credentials of the person who files a PIL, has stated as unde r :-
“4. When there is material to show that a petition styled a s a
public interest litigation is nothing but a camouflage to fos ter
personal disputes, said petition is to be thrown out. Before we
grapple with the issue involved in the present case, we fee l it
necessary to consider the issue regarding public interest a spect.
Public Interest Litigation which has now come to occupy an
important field in the administration of law should not be “publicity
interest litigation” or ‘’private interest litigation” or ‘’politics interest
litigation” or the latest trend ‘’paise income litiga tion”. If not
properly regulated and abuse averted it becomes also a tool in
unscrupulous hands to release vendetta and wreck vengeance, as
well. There must be real and genuine public interest ‘involved in
the litigation and not merely an adventure of knight errant or poke
one’s noses into for a probe. It cannot also be invoked by a person
or a body of persons to further his or their personal causes or
satisfy his or their personal grudge and enmity. Courts of justice
should not be allowed to be polluted by unscrupulous litigants by
resorting to the extra-ordinary jurisdiction. A person acting bona
fide and having sufficient interest in the proceeding of public interest
litigation will alone have a locus standi and can approach the Court
to wipe out violation of fundamental rights and genuine infraction
of statutory provisions, but not for personal gain or private profit
or political motive or any oblique consideration. These aspec ts
were highlighted by this Court in The Janata Oaf case ( supra)
and Kazi Lhendup Dorji v. Central Bureau of Investigation, (1994
Supp (2) SCC 116). A writ petitioner who comes to the Court for
relief in public interest must come not only with clean hands like
any other writ petitioner but also with a clean heart, clean min d
and clean objective. See Ramjas Foundation v. Union of India
(AIR 1993 SC 852) and K. R. Srinivas v. R. M. Premchand (1994
(6) SCC 620).
XXX XXX XXX
9 AIR 2004 SC 280
STATE OF JHARKHAND v. SHIV SHANKAR SHARMA
AND ORS. [SUDHANSHU DHULIA, J.]
12. Public interest litigation is a weapon which has to be used
with great care and circumspection and the judiciary has to be
extremely careful to see that behind the beautiful veil of public
interest an ugly private malice, vested interest and/or publ icity
seeking fs not lurking. It Is to be used as an effective weapon in
the armoury of law for delivering social justice to the citizens.
The attractive brand name of public interest litigation should not
be used for suspicious products of mischief. It should be aimed at
redressal of genuine public wrong or public injury and not publicity
oriented or founded on personal vendetta. As indicated above,
Court must be careful to see that a body of persons or member of
public, who approaches’ the Court is acting bona fide and not for
personal gain or private motive ‘or political motivation or other
oblique consideration. The Court must not allow its process to be
abused for oblique considerations. Some persons with vested
interest indulge in the pastime of meddling with judicial process
either by force of habit or from improper motives. Often they are
actuated by a desire to win notoriety or cheap popularity. The
petitions of such busy bodies deserve to be thrown out by rejection
at the threshold, and in appropriate cases with exemplary costs.
XXX XXX XXX
14. The Court has to be satisfied about (a) the credentials of the
applicant; (b) the prima facie correctness or nature of information
given by him; (c) the information being not vague and indefinite.
The information should show gravity and seriousness involved.
Court has to strike balance between two conflicting interests; (i)
nobody should be allowed to indulge in wild and reckless allegations
besmirching the character of others: and (ii) avoidance of public
mischief and to avoid mischievous petitions seeking to assail, for
oblique motive, justifiable executive actions. In such case, however,
the Court cannot afford to be liberal. It has to be extremely careful
to see that under the guise of redressing a public grievanc e, it
does not encroach upon the sphere reserved by the Constitution
to the, Executive and the Legislature. The Court has to act
ruthlessly while dealing with imposters and busy bod ies or
meddlesome interlopers impersonating as public-spirited holy men.
They masquerade as crusaders of justice. They pretend to act in
the name of Pro Bono Publico though they have no interest of the
Public or even of their own to protect.
1169
XXX XXX XXX
16. As noted supra, a time has come to weed out the petitions ,
which though titled as public interest litigations are in e ssence
something else. It is shocking to note that Courts are flooded with
large number of so called public interest litigations where even a
minuscule percentage can legitimately be called as public interest
litigations. Though the parameters of public interest litigation have
been indicated by this Court in large number of cases, yet unmindful
of the real intentions and objectives, Courts are entertaining such
petitions and wasting valuable judicial time which, as noted above,
could be otherwise utilized for disposal of genuine cases. Though
in Dr. Duryodhan Sahu v. Jitendra Kumar Mishra and Ors. (AIR
1999 SC 114), this Court held that in service matters PILs should
not be entertained, the inflow of so· called PILs involving service
matters continues unabated in the Courts and strang ely are
entertained. The least the High Courts could do is to throw them
out on the basis of the said decision. The other interesting aspect
is that in the PILs. official documents are being annexed without
even indicating as to how the petitioner came to possess them. In
one case, it was noticed that an interesting answer was giv en as
to its possession. It was stated that a packet was lying on the road
and when out of curiosity the petitioner opened it, he found copies
of the official documents. Whenever such frivolous pleas are taken
to explain possession, the Court should do well not only to dismiss
the petitioners but also to impose exemplary costs. If woul d be
desirable for the Courts to filter out the frivolous petitio ns and
dismiss them with costs as afore-stated so that the message goes
in the right direction that petitions filed with oblique motive do not
have the approval of the Courts.”
16. The locus of the petitioner who initiates a PIL is therefore of
extreme importance as this important form of litigation s hould not be
abused by motivated individuals to abuse the process of the C ourt for
their political purposes or for any other reason, but for a Public Cause.
17. Petitioner in this case is admittedly the son of Dr. Gau tam
Sharma who was one of the witnesses for the prosecution in a criminal
case10 against the father of the present Chief Minister and therefore the
10 Sessions Case No. 3 of 2006 before Additional Sess ions Judge, Tis Hazari Court,
New Delhi, in a case of Section 302, 201 IPC.
STATE OF JHARKHAND v. SHIV SHANKAR SHARMA
AND ORS. [SUDHANSHU DHULIA, J.]
Chief Minister has alleged an old enmity and personal vendett a at the
hands of the petitioner. To our mind, in spite of such objection the PIL
could have been heard had the petitioner come before the Court with
clean hands. He has deliberately and wilfully withheld from the C ourt
that an earlier writ petition (Writ Petition No. (PIL) 4218 of 2013) was
filed on similar grounds seeking similar reliefs which was dismissed by
the Jharkhand High Court on 22.11.2013 with costs, an order which was
upheld by the Supreme Court vide order dated 28.02.2014 in SLP No.
4886 of 2014.
18. Furthermore, the allegations which were made by the petitioner
are vague, very much generalized and not at all substantiated by anything
worthy to be called an evidence. Allegations of corruption and siphoning
of money from shell companies are nothing but a bald allegation, without
substantiating the allegations in any manner whatsoever and is therefore
only asking the Court to direct Central Bureau of Investigat ion or the
Directorate of Enforcement to investigate the matter. This is nothing but
an abuse of the process of the court.
19. The Courts cannot allow its process to be abused for oblique
purposes, as was observed by this Court in Ashok Kumar Pandey v.
State of West Bengal11. In Balwant Singh Chaufal (supra) this Court
had discussed the three stages of a PIL which has been discussed above.
Then this Court in Balwant Singh Chaufal (supra) states as to how this
important jurisdiction, i.e., PIL has been abused at Para 143 by observing
as under:
“143. Unfortunately, of late, it has been noticed that such a n
important jurisdiction which has been carefully carved out, created
and nurtured with great care and caution by the courts, is bei ng
blatantly abused by filing some petitions with oblique motives. We
think time has come when genuine and bona fide public interest
litigation must be encouraged whereas frivolous public interest
litigation should be discouraged. In our considered opinion, we
have to protect and preserve this important jurisdiction in the larger
interest of the people of this country but we must take ef fective
steps to prevent and cure its abuse on the basis of monetary and
non-monetary directions by the courts.”
11 (2004) 3 SCC 349
1171
This Court then refers to the case of Holicow Pictures (P) Ltd.
v. Prem Chand Mishra 12 which has relied on the Judgement of this
Court in Janata Dal v. H.S. Chowdhary13, at Para 10 said as under:
“12. It is depressing to note that on account of such trumpery
proceedings initiated before the courts, innumerable days are
wasted, which time otherwise could have been spent for the
disposal of cases of the genuine litigants. Though we spare n o
efforts in fostering and developing the laudable concept of PIL
and extending our long arm of sympathy to the poor, the ignorant,
the oppressed and the needy whose fundamental right s are
infringed and violated and whose grievances go unnot iced,
unrepresented and unheard; yet we cannot avoid but express our
opinion that while genuine litigants with legitimate grie vances
relating to civil matters involving properties worth hundre ds of
millions of rupees and criminal cases in which persons sentenced
to death facing gallows under untold agony and persons sentenced
to life imprisonment and kept in incarceration for long y ears,
persons suffering from undue delay in service matte rs—
government or private, persons awaiting the disposal of ca ses
wherein huge amounts of public revenue or unauthorised collection
of tax amounts are locked up, detenu expecting their release from
the detention orders, etc. etc. are all standing in a long serpentine
queue for years with the fond hope of getting into the courts and
having their grievances redressed, the busybodies, meddles ome
interlopers, wayfarers or officious interveners having absolutely
no public interest except for personal gain or private profit either
of themselves or as a proxy of others or for any other extraneous
motivation or for glare of publicity, break the queue muffing their
faces by wearing the mask of public interest litigation and get into
the courts by filing vexatious and frivolous petitions and th us
criminally waste the valuable time of the courts and as a result of
which the queue standing outside the doors of the courts never
moves, which piquant situation creates frustration in the minds of
the genuine litigants and resultantly they lose fai th in the
administration of our judicial system.
12 (2007) 14 SCC 281
13 (1992) 4 SCC 305
STATE OF JHARKHAND v. SHIV SHANKAR SHARMA
AND ORS. [SUDHANSHU DHULIA, J.]
20. Now let us see what are the nature of allegations which have
been made by the petitioner in the PIL filed before the Jharkhand High
Court. Petitioner alleges that the one of the respondents who is the present
Chief Minister of Jharkhand has amassed a huge wealth by cor rupt
means by abusing his position as a Chief Minister and has invested this
money in about 32 companies of which description has been given. The
petitioner then gives details of these companies as to who are the
Directors, etc. The respondent or his relatives are not the Dire ctors of
the Companies. But then the petitioner states that he has i nformation
that he has been siphoning off this money and investing it in these shell
companies through one Ravi Kejriwal who is allegedly a close associate
of the Chief Minister. The allegations of the responde nt of money
laundering through shell companies has not been supplemented by any
kind of evidence, whatsoever. The names of persons who are allegedly
responsible for the operation of these companies have been mentioned,
but without producing any concrete evidence, it has been stated that
these persons are connected/close aides or related to the Chief Minister.
Further, none of the companies have been made a party to the pres ent
PILs, before the Jharkhand High Court. Thus, an order is sought from
the High Court to direct the Enforcement Directorate to investigate these
so called “shell companies” without even making the companies a party
in the writ proceedings. It is also an admitted fact tha t in relation to
present two PILs, no FIR or complaint has been filed with the police or
any authority agitating the grievances and these petitions have been filed
before the High Court, without availing the statutory remedies.
21. We are not for a moment saying that people who occupy high
offices should not be investigated, but for a High Court to take cognizance
of the matter on these generalized submissions which do not even make
prima facie satisfaction of the Court, is nothing but an a buse of the
process of the Court. The non-disclosure of the cred entials of the
petitioner and the past efforts made for similar relief s as it has been
mandated under the Rules, 2010 further discredits these petitions. The
petitioner in the PILs did not go with clean hands before the High Court.
In our view, such a petition was liable to be dismissed at the very threshold
itself. If the petitioner has a genuine reason to pursue the matter, he has
his remedies available under the Companies Act or under other provisions
of the law where he can apprise the relevant authorities of the misdeeds
of the Directors or Promotors of the Companies. But on general ized
averments which are nothing but mere allegations at this stage, the Court
1173
cannot become a forum to investigate the alleged acts of misdeeds against
high constitutional authorities. It was not proper for the High C ourt to
entertain a PIL which is based on mere allegations and half baked truth
that too at the hands of a person who has not been able to fully satis fy
his credentials and has come to the Court with unclean hands.
22. Consequently, we allow the present appeals and set aside the
order of 03.06.2022 passed by the Jharkhand High Court in W.P. No.
(PIL) 4290 of 2021 and W.P. No. (PIL) 727 of 2022.
Nidhi Jain and Anurag Bhaskar Appeals allowed.
(Assisted by : Bodhi Ramteke, LCRA)
STATE OF JHARKHAND v. SHIV SHANKAR SHARMA
AND ORS. [SUDHANSHU DHULIA, J.]