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Synopsis

A division bench of the Bombay High Court, consisting of Chief Justice Devendra K Upadhyaya and Justice Arif Doctor, dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) on Wednesday that sought an investigation into the funds utilized by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's party during last year's Dusshera Rally.

The high court decided to dismiss the PIL after Advocate Nitin Satpute, the petitioner, failed to appear for the hearing for the third time.

In the previous hearing, the high court had expressed dissatisfaction with the junior advocate, who had sought an adjournment because her senior counsel was unavailable.

"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. 

Notably, during one of 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, therefore 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.