Workers fixing the display board of Liquor Shop at Jangpura in New Delhi on November 18,2021 (Express/FILE)The Delhi High Court Thursday reduced the cost imposed on a public interest litigant for levelling allegations against the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate for allegedly harassing private liquor vendors in the national capital in connection with the AAP government’s liquor policy.
The matter was heard by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad, wherein the petitioner, a Delhi advocate, tendered an unconditional apology before the court. The court reduced the cost from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5,000.
The High Court, in its September 8 judgment, had imposed a cost of Rs 1 lakh on the petitioner, observing that he had not named a single CBI or ED officer nor did he give any details of the alleged harassment. “The present petition is nothing but a sheer abuse of the process of law and the petitioner wants a roving inquiry to be done by this court based on vague and absurd allegations,” the court said.
The PIL relied on Deputy Chief Manish Sisodia’s statement made on a TV channel that “central investigating agencies are harassing private liquor vendors and they have been forced to close their shops” as well as newspaper clippings.
The petitioner had argued that the government’s new liquor policy was aimed at destroying the liquor mafia and ending black-marketing, and sought “a list of 186 private liquor vendors” allegedly harassed by the two central agencies.
He had also sought a direction from the Delhi Lieutenant Governor to identify the people who allegedly harassed private liquor vendors and forced them “to close their shops, thereby depriving them of their right of livelihood guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution”.
While dismissing the petition, the court referred to the Supreme Court judgments that said “the forum of approaching courts by way of the newly developed doctrine of Public Interest Litigation should not be permitted to be abused”.
The court imposed a cost of Rs 1 lakh on the petitioner to be paid to the Army War Widows Fund within 30 days of the judgment. If the petitioner fails to pay the cost, the New Delhi subdivisional magistrate should recover it as arrears of land revenue and transfer the amount to the fund, the court said.
The court directed the registrar-general to monitor the recovery of the cost and the petitioner to appear before the latter on October 18.