Bombay HC fines 5 Jalna civic officials ₹1 lakh each for misleading court – Hindustan Times

Observing that the majesty of law had to be upheld by high-ranking officers, the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay high court (HC) recently imposed a cost of ₹1 lakh each on five officials of the Jalna Municipal Corporation who were found to have given false statements in a bid to mislead the court in a public interest litigation (PIL).

The officials, while giving their statement regarding a slaughter-house which the PIL had alleged was illegal, had assured the court that the slaughter-house was legal and had all the requisite permissions from various authorities. However, on perusal of records and other documents, the court found the statements to be false. To deter others to act in a similar way, the court imposed the cost on the officials.

The division bench of justice Ravindra Ghuge and justice BU Debadwar, while hearing the PIL filed by Ashpak Ansari and others, was informed by advocate Milind Patil that the slaughter house at Mangal Bazar, Kadrabad area, which was purportedly under the authority of Jalna Municipal Corporation was functioning illegally as it did not have a clearance from the pollution control board (PCB) since its inception in 2015-16.

In earlier hearings in January, the concerned officials had told the court the slaughter house had the requisite clearance and was working as per the sanitation and hygiene norms of the civic authority.

However, after the petitioners submitted photographs of the dilapidated and extremely unhealthy environment of the structure, the civic officials pressed their machinery to clear the garbage and whitewash the entire premise to show that the allegations of the petitioners were untrue.

However, the counsel for PCB submitted that no clearance had been granted to the slaughter-house and added that it was even disposing waste in civic nullahs.

When the court confronted the officials, they admitted to making false statements to mislead the court but sought a pardon on the grounds that they had done it for the first time and were willing to pay a penalty.

After hearing the submissions, the court observed, “We are of the view that the majesty of law has to be upheld and any person; howsoever high office he may hold, should not be permitted to mislead the court.”

While acceding to the request of the officials not to initiate contempt of court proceedings against them, the court imposed a cost of ₹1 lakh on each of them and asked them to deposit the same with the court within March 6. “We intend to donate the said amount to the account of the District Collector, Jalna to be utilised for Covid-19 vaccination in Jalna district in those areas where poverty-stricken persons are held eligible for vaccination,” the court noted.

The court, while seeking the names of the officials concerned, directed the PCB counsel to place a list of officials who had done dereliction of duty and posted the PIL for hearing on February 26.