The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court expressed its concern about the petitioner’s tendency to initiate multiple cases against public officials and leaving them unresolved, akin to a hanging sword of Damocles.
Justices Ravindra V Ghuge and YG Khobragade, comprising the division bench, observed that Sharad Kulkarni, the petitioner, had filed seven pending proceedings against public officials since 2013. The Court raised doubts about the petitioner’s sincerity in filing these cases, especially the ones before the High Court.
In response to this, the court ordered Kulkarni to make a pre-hearing deposit of ₹50,000 for each officer involved in the pending proceedings before the High Court.
Representing Kulkarni, attorney Aniruddha Nimbalkar assured the court that a deposit of ₹7.5 lakh would be submitted within sixty days from July 21.
The Court made it clear that it would only proceed with the PILs if the deposit was made; otherwise, the PILs would be dismissed, and costs might be imposed.
The division bench was apprised of Kulkarni’s filing of seven criminal cases against various departmental officers. The court noted that Kulkarni had a history of not responding to the court’s notices to the respondent authorities in these cases.
The court cited instances where matters were not actively pursued after notice was issued, and even cases pending for several years without logical conclusions. This led to doubts about the petitioner’s seriousness in pursuing these cases.
One of Kulkarni’s petitions accused nine officers and six contractors of misappropriation of ₹3 lakhs, demanding the registration of crimes under the Maharashtra Civil Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules.
However, the court remained unconvinced and decided to impose a conditional pre-hearing deposit before proceeding with the cases.
