Delhi High Court imposes Rs. 1 Lakh cost on Lawyer filing PIL over AAP MLAs' Allegations Against CBI, ED Officers

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Synopsis

The PIL plea had been filed against the statement made by the Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia who alleged that the officers of CBI and ED were harassing the private liquor vendors to close their shops.

The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed a plea filed over allegations made by Aam Admi Party MLAs against the Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement directorate officers. The bench imposed a cost of Rs. 1 Lakh on the petitioner.

The plea had been filed in reference to the statement made by Manish Sisodiya, Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi that the officers of Central Agencies like the CBI and the ED were harassing the private liquor vendors who were forced to close their shops.

A division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad noted, "The petitioner has placed the Liquor Policy in the matter and raised all kinds of wild allegations against respondents No.2 to 6 based upon the statement of third persons, including the statement of the Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Member of Legislative Assembly and newspaper clippings."

Regarding the petition, the bench noted, "The petitioner has not named a single officer of the CBI, or of the Directorate of Enforcement who has harassed a single liquor vendor, nor has he given details of any kind of such harassment and based upon the so-called press releases/ statement made in the press, he wants a roving inquiry to be done by this Court."

While holding that the petition is nothing but sheer abuse of the process of law, court imposed a cost of Rs. 1 Lakh to be paid to the Army War Widows Fund within a period of 30 days.

Earlier, The High Court had reserved its order in this Public Interest Litigation plea.

The plea sought the following directions:

  • to the Delhi Government to provide a list of 176 private liquor vendors who were harassed by officers of CBI and ED;
  • to CBI and ED to identify those officers who were causing harassment to 176 private liquor vendors and thereby forcing them to close their shops;
  • to CBI and ED to ensure facilities provided by private liquor vendors continue to be provided by Government Liquor shops from 1 September 2022;

Case Title: Narinder Khanna Vs. The Government of NCT of Delhi & Ors.