Citizens Can't Claim Absolute Right To Visit Public Offices: Bombay High Court

In an important order, the Bombay High Court recently held that no citizen can claim an absolute right to visit public offices purportedly for lodging complaints.A division bench of Justices Anil Kilor and Rajnish Vyas, sitting at the Nagpur seat, upheld the decision of the Western Coalfields Ltd. which declared one Kishore Chakole as "Persona Non Grata" thereby prohibiting his entry in their premises. The order, the judges noted came to be passed after Chakole, a former employee, who was removed from the job in 2004, now claims to be a social activist, kept on filing multiple frivolous and repeated complaints against various officials of Western Coalfields at the behest of some other employees. While he claimed to be helping the aggrieved employees, the authority in its October 10, 2024 order declaring him persona non grata pointed out that most of his complaints were baseless. "No doubt, petitioner has right to file complaints, pointing out the illegality, but at the same time, it cannot be forgotten that filing, frivolous complaints and repeated complaints burdens the public officers. Petitioner cannot claim that he has absolute right to visit respondent's offices. The petitioner can file complaints online, through post and also seek information by taking help of technology," the judges opined. In their October 6 order, the judges observed that the right of a citizen to move freely throughout territory of India, is also required to be considered from the angle of reasonable restrictions which are recognised by the Constitution. "But at the same time, the petitioner cannot be given free hand to visit the public offices which would certainly affect the public administration. Even fundamental rights guaranteed under Part III of the Constitution of India are not absolute and are subjected to reasonable restrictions," the judges held. The bench noted that the petitioner while claiming to be an activist, visits various offices of the Western Coalfields and has been found to be violating the visitor's entry protocol, besides unauthorisedly visiting officials during the working hours. It is alleged that, the petitioner is writing malicious letters, levelling false allegations against the officers and management of the respondent establishment with an intention to harass and blackmail them, the bench noted. The judges further took into account the fact that a similar prohibition was imposed on Chakole previously in the year 2013 and the same was also challenged in the High Court, which refused to quash the said order but granted liberty to him to approach appropriate forum whenever he required to visit the office or needed some assistance. However, the said prohibition was revoked by the authority itself with certain conditions on Chakole to adhere to. He however, breached the said conditions. "On the breach of the conditions imposed, again the petitioner was declared as 'Persona-non grata' by the respondents but his behaviour did not change. This fact clearly shows that the conduct of the petitioner and intention to visit the office of the respondents is not bonafide, and his entry in office is with a view to obstruct the smooth functioning of the office. It is needless to mention that the person cannot, as a matter of right, claim to have authority to harass the public officials," the judges said. With these observations, the judges dismissed the petition. Appearance:Kishore Jairam Chakole appeared as party-in-person. Advocate Gauri Venkatraman represented Western Coalfields Ltd.Advocate SA Chaudhari represented Union of India. Case Title: Kishore Jairam Chakole vs The Western Coalfields Ltd. (Writ Petition 1627 of 2025)Click Here To Read/Download Judgment

Citizens Can't Claim Absolute Right To Visit Public Offices: Bombay High Court

Narsi Benwal

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