HC orders CBI inquiry against man over PIL

To ascertain whether a city-based businessman has any personal interest in a case, the Delhi High Court has ordered CBI to probe him after he filed a PIL challenging allotment of government land to private people.

A division bench of Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and Justice Manmohan directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct a preliminary inquiry to find out the relationship of Ram Niwas Jain, who filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) with the people named as accused in an FIR lodged with the Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police concerning alleged fraudulent sale of a piece of land in south Delhi.

The bench also observed that a large number of "private interest litigations are being filed in the guise of public interest litigations".

The court in an order passed Wednesday said: "Keeping in view the serious allegations that have been made as well as the fact that a large number of private interest litigations are filed in the guise of PILs to settle private lis (dispute), we direct CBI to conduct a preliminary inquiry to the limited extent of finding out the relationship of the petitioner with any of the accused in the aforesaid FIR."

The court's order came on the PIL filed by Jain, alleging that wrongful allotment of government land is being made by officers of the land and building department of Delhi government and other officers working in the revenue department.

Filing an affidavit, Jain had said he has no personal interest in the outcome of the PIL and that the same has been filed in public interest.

However, an impediment application was filed in the matter by an intervener saying the PIL was an outcome of a personal dispute and intends to mislead the court.

Jain had sought directions to CBI to investigate the role of government officials involved in wrongful and illegal allotment of huge chunks of public land to private persons for monetary benefits by manipulating, forging and tampering with revenue record.

The court also directed CBI to investigate whether the PIL has been filed at the instance of any of the accused in the FIR.