SUMAN K SHRIVASTAVA
Ranchi, Dec. 27: The Jharkhand High Court today struck out Arun Kumar Dubey, who filed a PIL seeking a CBI probe into siphoning off thousands of crore by then Khunti DC Pooja Singhal among others, but admitted his petition as ‘court on its own motion.’
Not satisfied with Dubey’s credentials, a Division bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjaya Kumar Mishra and Justice Ananda Sen, observed that the Court found certain information regarding a possible misappropriation of funds to the tune of thousands of crores.
Fit case for PIL
“Hence, this Court is of further opinion that it is a fit case where the Public Interest Litigation should be entertained, but the petitioner should be struck out from the record,” the bench said.
Also read: Jharkhand High Court sets aside PIL against CM Hemant Soren, kin
The Court ordered that the petitioner’s name, along with his counsel, shall be struck out from the record, and it will be registered as “Court on its Own Motion”.
Appoint an Amicus curia.
The bench asked the registry to list the case in January’s second week and appoint an Amicus curia to take it to its logical conclusion.
Read the full judgement: Jharkhand High Judgement on PIL against Pooja Singhal
The Court said that a PIL can be registered if it finds that there is scope for dealing with the matter further in the greater public interest. “This can be done by keeping the writ petitioner out of the picture and appointing an amicus curiae. This can only be done exceptionally and not in a routine manner,” the Court observed.
Notably, Arun Kumar Dubey filed the PIL involving Singhal and demanded a probe into the role of Singhal in the MNREGA scam involving Rs 200 crore. According to him, as many as 16 FIRs were registered at different police stations of the district in the matter.
Later, the state Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) probed the matter, but no action was taken against Singhal, who the ED finally arrested.
Meanwhile, Dubey’s counsel, Rajiv Kumar, said that he would challenge the high court order in the Supreme Court.
