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The petitioner approached the high court on the grounds that the commissioner enjoyed patronage from politicians and had paid two crores in bribes to ensure that he was not transferred out of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar
The Bombay High Court recently dismissed a petition seeking the transfer of the commissioner-cum-administrator from the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Municipal Corporation during the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections.
The petitioner, Naser Nahdi Mohammed Yahna Nahdi, an aspiring politician, contended that the commissioner's completion of 3 years of service.
The division bench of the high court at Aurangabad, comprising Justice Ravindra V Ghuge and Justice RM Joshi, dismissed the petition with costs, noting that such petitions should not be entertained.
“When frivolous and baseless allegations are made, imposition of exemplary costs would be justified. So also, if the pleadings give impression of oblique motives, they must be dealt with sternly in order to filter out frivolous petitions and dismiss them with costs so that the message goes in the right direction that the petitions filed with oblique motives do not have the approval of the Court,” the court said.
The petitioner had written to the Chief Election Commissioner of the Election Commission of India, the Chief Secretary, and the Chief Election Officer of the Maharashtra government to transfer the commissioner. However, there was no response to the same.
The petitioner approached the high court on the grounds that the commissioner enjoyed patronage from politicians and had paid two crores in bribes to ensure that he was not transferred out of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.
It was also alleged that some other politicians did not want the commissioner to be transferred out of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.
The Government Pleader contended that the commissioner has not been directly deployed for election work. He further submitted that no order has been issued deploying the commissioner on election duty in any capacity till now.
The high court stated that the petition was misconceived and appeared to have been filed with oblique motives.
“In view of the above, we find that, this Writ Petition is not only misconceived, but appears to have been filed with oblique motives and with such object, the Petitioner has cast grave and serious aspersions on Respondent No.6 without any substantiation or any evidence. It is quite shocking that the Petitioner would dare to make such allegations when he has no material with him to substantiate even a single allegation,” the court said.
The bench also observed that the prayers in the petition were based on wild, baseless and reckless allegations without any iota of evidence.
“We are shocked and astonished by the conduct of the Petitioner. We have perused the pleadings put forth by him in the Petition and the representation. We are circumspect, as to whether he can indulge in a pretence that, he is affected by the continuance of Respondent No.6 or that a legal injury is caused to him. His request for transferring Respondent No.6 is on the basis of wild, baseless and reckless allegations, which we have summarized in the forgoing paragraph No.7, and in support of which, he has no iota of evidence,” the court said.
Therefore, the high court directed the petitioner to deposit a total of Rs. 1 lakh as costs, to be transferred to the Government Medical College, Government Cancer Hospital, Indian India, Orphanage Home (Shantivan), Day Care Centre of the High Court, and the Advocates Association at Aurangabad.
Case title: Naser Nahdi Mohammed Yahna Nahdi vs State of Maharashtra
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