Himachal Pradesh High Court
Gram Panchayat Old Manali vs . State Of H.P. & Others on 17 August, 2023
Bench: Mamidanna Satya Ratna Sri Ramachandra Rao, Ajay Mohan Goel
Gram Panchayat Old Manali Vs. State of H.P. & others CMP No. 12713 of 2022 in .
CWPIL No. 56 of 2022 17.08.2023 Present: Mr. V.S. Chauhan, Senior Advocate with Mr. Ajay Kashyap, Advocate, for the non-applicant/ petitioner.
Mr. Anup Rattan, Advocate General with of Mr. Rakesh Dhaulta, Mr. Pranay Pratap Singh, Additional Advocates General, Mr. Arsh Rattan & Mr. Sidharth Jalta, Deputy Advocates General, for respondents no. 1 to 4 & 6-State.
rt Mr. R.L. Sood, Senior Advocate with Mr. Arjun Lall, Advocate, for the applicant/respondent no. 5.
CMP no. 12713 of 2022 This application is filed for recall of the order dt.
30.08.2022 passed by this Court permitting withdrawal of CWPIL no. 56 of 2022 on the request made by the learned Counsel for Smt. Monika Bharti who has purportedly filed the said PIL on behalf of the Gram Panchayat Old Manali as its President/Pradhan.
2. It is alleged in this application by the applicant who was impleaded as 5th respondent in the PIL on that false averments and allegations were levelled against him, and this Court was induced to issue notice to the applicant in CMP no.
12713 of 2022 i.e. respondent no. 5 in the PIL; that the applicant then made inquiries in the Panchayat office of Old Manali since he was also a Member of the said Gram Panchayat and, came to know that neither there was any resolution passed by the said Gram Panchayat to file said PIL nor there was any resolution ::: Downloaded on - 18/08/2023 20:33:58 :::CIS passed authorizing Smt. Monika Bharti, the President of the Gram Panchayat to file the said PIL or to engage any Counsel.
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3. It is alleged that the said PIL was filed at the behest and instance of three individuals by name Shri N.S. Verma, currently posted as Tehsildar, IRSA, Stamp Cell, Civil of Secretariat, Shimla, Shri Gautam Nath, former vice President, Municipal Committee Manali and Shri Roop Chand, former rt President Municipal Committee, Manali.
4. It is alleged that the filing of the very PIL is to settle personal scores of these individuals and Smt. Monika Bharti with the applicant.
5. It is further contended that the applicant intended to seriously contest the said PIL, but thereafter the said PIL came to be withdrawn on 30.08.2022 without apprising the Court of the fact that the writ petition which was being withdrawn, was in fact a PIL.
6. The applicant therefore seeks restoration of the PIL in order to bring to notice of the Court the fact that false grounds were raised therein for settling personal scores with the applicant.
7. After this application was filed, Smt. Monika Bharti was directed to file a reply by this Court on 12.09.2022 and then the matter was adjourned to 27.09.2022 when it was further adjourned to 31.10.2022 and thereafter to 16.11.2022 and time was granted to file reply to her again on 16.11.2022 and again ::: Downloaded on - 18/08/2023 20:33:58 :::CIS on 20.12.2022. Thereupon she filed a reply to this application on 26.12.2022, to which a rejoinder has also been filed.
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8. In the reply filed by Smt. Monika Bharti, it is alleged that she did not file the said PIL, and she did not instruct anybody to file the same, nor did she sign any document. She of also denied that she had any direct or indirect involvement in filing of the PIL. She stated that she has no serious objection for rt restoration of the PIL to its original position.
9. Having regard to the stand taken by the respective parties, prima-facie the circumstances surrounding the filing of the CWPIL and its withdrawal are required to be examined.
Therefore without expressing any opinion, at this stage, we allow this application and restore the CWPIL to the file of this Court. The application is accordingly disposed of.
CWPIL No. 56 of 202210. Respondent No. 5 is permitted to file a reply to the CWPIL by the next date.
11. List on 06.09.2023.
(M.S. Ramachandra Rao) Chief Justice.
August 17, 2023 (Ajay Mohan Goel)
(hemlata) Judge.
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