Krishan vs State Of Meghalaya & Ors

The petitioner seeks time on the ground that some of the documents relied upon by the respondent No.11 may be suspect and RTI queries have been raised by the petitioner to which no reply has yet been received.

The time to file the petitioner’s rejoinder to the affidavit filed by the respondent No.11 is extended by three weeks from date.

The application filed by the respondent No.11 is completely misconceived and beyond the scope of the writ petition. It is elementary that any application or prayer in course of any proceedings has to be in aid of the proceedings and not otherwise.

The charge in the petition filed in public interest is that the respondent No.11, in connivance with the State authorities, has purported to export coal illegally mined in the State to Bangladesh by falsely claiming such coal to have been obtained from elsewhere.

The grievance in the miscellaneous application filed by the respondent No.11 is that though permission had originally been granted and the time for exporting the goods to Bangladesh had also been extended, by a recent notice issued sometime in February, 2023, the permission has been withdrawn on the pretext that some documents have to be looked into by the State. Prima facie, it appears that the State may have become wiser upon this PIL being filed.

In any event, the prayer made in the miscellaneous application not only has no nexus with the petition, but is contrary to the object for which the petition was filed.

Accordingly, MC (PIL) No.1 of 2023 is dismissed with costs assessed at Rs.10,000/- to be paid to the Meghalaya State Legal Services Authority within a fortnight from date.

The petition will appear four weeks hence.

List on April 27, 2023.