Coming down heavily on the trend of litigants moving the High Court by filing petitions to get personal gains, the Kerala High Court on Wednesday observed that misuse of the right given to citizens to initiate public interest litigation could not be allowed.
The court also imposed an exemplary fine of Rs 50,000 on A Subair of Muttom in Thiruvananthapuram, who repeatedly filed petitions on ‘flimsy’ grounds against the construction of Thakaraparambu flyover in the capital city. A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice A M Shaffique passed the order while dismissing his plea seeking a directive to halt the construction.
He had submitted that the construction was unscientific and dangerous to the archaeological monuments of the city. The Archaeological Survey Department, however, had submitted that the construction of the flyover from the Power House Road to Thakaraparambil was not detrimental to the forts and monuments. The department had taken all efforts to protect those structures, it said. State Attorney P Vijayaraghvan submitted that the move of the petitioner was a malafide attempt and there was no public interest behind it. The petitioner was ventilating the grievances of certain individuals, the State’s Attorney said.
The Bench observed that not being satisfied by its previous directives, the petitioner had repeatedly filed pleas and his main intention was to stall the construction on the flyover.
“The flyover is being constructed to ease the heavy traffic congestion in the city. The Thiruvananthapuram City, especially East Fort, Thampanoor, Pazhavangad and Over Bridge roads, is always congested with traffic where the railway station, bus stand, Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple and other commercial centres are situated,” the court said. The intention of the petitioner was either to gain popularity or act at the whims of some persons who are against the flyover, it said.
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