Thaindian News

Gandhinagar, April 15 (IANS) The first bench of the Gujarat High Court Friday dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on the ground that it was frivolous and imposed a cost of Rs.10,000 on a petitioner who did not even know the name of a government scheme that he wanted implemented.

While dismissing the petition, the bench comprising Chief Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya and Justice J.B. Pardiwala stated so in their order.

The petitioner, Viram Desai, stated in the petition that the authorities have not been implementing the slum development policy in Himmatnagar of Sabarkantha district even as they went about demolishing slums.

The petitioner who claimed to be an agriculturist and former president of Himmatnagar Nagarpalika had made the state government and some of its office bearers like the District Collector, Chief Officer of Himmatnagar Nagarpalika and Deputy Executive Engineer of Himmatnagar Irrigation Department, as party respondents.

He contended that the authorities have got funds of more than Rs.263 lakh from the central government and state government for slum development under the IHSDP Scheme.

However, the full-form of the scheme was not known to the petitioner. Desai said that instead of using the money received through the IHSDP Scheme for slum development, the authorities were going about demolishing slums. His plea was that the slum dwellers should not be displaced before being provided alternate accommodation.

The court sought to know details of the scheme including the full-form of the scheme, which he was unable to explain. Instead of answering the court’s query, the petitioner continued to argue following which the court dismissed the petition while observing that the petitioner does not even know the full form of the scheme.

IHSDP (Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme) is a scheme by the central government, for the slum improvement in cities and towns. Considering the PIL as frivolous, the court imposed fine of Rs.10,000 on him.