Patna high court rejects PIL seeking penalty on government

PATNA: The Patna high court on Friday refused to entertain a PIL seeking imposition of penalty on the identified persons engaged in vandalism as well as the state government and the political parties in Bihar for causing loss and damages to public properties, particularly of railways, during protests in Bihar against the Centre's Agnipath scheme for short-term recruitment in military services.
The division bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice S Kumar disposed of the PIL filed by advocate Sanjeev Kumar Mishra while refusing to interfere judicially in this matter.
The petitioner alleged that the state police had failed to curb the vandalism, which threatened the life of people. He cited the vandalism committed by the miscreants at Danapur railway station, causing an estimated loss of Rs260 crores to the railways.
Advocate general Lalit Kishore submitted that the PIL was premature as the state government had been taking stringent action against the identified culprits and erring police officers.
After hearing the contentions, the court refused to interfere in this matter while observing that since the state government is already taking action against the persons identified for committing ruckus, hence there is no need of any judicial interference in the executive functioning of the state.