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Synopsis

A division bench of the Bombay High Court, led by Chief Justice Devendra Upadhyaya and Justice Arif Doctor, commented on Wednesday that filing a PIL solely based on a morning newspaper article is not sufficient.

"You are a newly enrolled advocate. Be serious in the profession. PIL should be taken up very seriously. Without appropriate homework no pil. It's not that you read something in the newspaper in the morning and file a PIL," the court remarked. 

The high court was hearing a PIL that called for an investigation into the utilization of funds by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde for the Dussehra Rally at BKC.

During the proceedings, the bench directed a query at Advocate Shaila Kante, representing the petitioner, regarding the source of the PIL. In response, she stated that the information was garnered from newspaper and media accounts

The bench then remarked that it was a politically motivated PIL

"This is a Politically motivated petition. The source of information is utterance by the political leader. Are you seriously pursuing this petition?" bench said.

Kante however sought an adjournment citing her senior was not available. 

The bench agreed and posted the matter for 17th August. 

Notably, during the previous hearing the division bench of Acting Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Arif Doctor had asked the petitioner to prove the bonafide.

"We could have disposed of the petition for this reason leaving the cause open to be agitated by any public spirited person or entity with credentials, however, since the learned counsel for the Petitioner seeks time to file an additional affidavit giving details regarding the Petitioner’s source of livelihood, social work etc., we defer the hearing of this petition to 19 July 2023," the court said.

The plea claimed that Shinde's party had used Rs. 10 crores for the rally, which was spent by an unregistered political, and therefore should be probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation and Mumbai Police Economic Offence Wing. 

The petitioner further sought action against Shinde in the same manner how the investigation was conducted against NCP Leader Anil Deshmukh and Shiv Sena Leader Sanjay Raut.

"Petitioner state that there is highly possibility that black money has been used for this public rally by spending Rs 10 Crore, therefor source of black money and funding need to be investigated like Ex- Home Miniter Anil Deshmukh, Ex Sanjay Raut, etc," the plea reads.

Case title: Deepak Dilip Jagdev vs Eknath Shinde & Ors.