The Madhya Pradesh High Court imposed costs of ₹10,000 on the petitioner who filed a public interest litigation resulting in the stalling of the Patan Kanera Irrigation Projects since 2019. [2026 LiveLaw (MP) 458]

Remarking that the court is "at pains to observe that an important project, like setting up of a dam for larger public interest, has been stalled since 2019 by filing of this petition", the division bench of Chief Justice Alpesh Y Kogje and Justice Vivek Jain directed;

"As the learned counsel is seeking permission to withdraw the petition, the Court is refraining from making strict observations against the petitioner, however, deems it fit to impose cost of Rs.10,000/- (Rupees Ten Thousand) upon the petitioner for the abuse of the process of law".

The court noted that the project was intended to provide irrigation facilities to an area of 410 hectares, which has not progressed despite having cleared relevant technical requirements. The court noted that the petitioner had initially approached the court through a writ petition in 2019 and subsequently sought its conversion into public interest litigation in 2024, claiming the matter involved public interest.

However, when the matter was nearing its conclusion, the petitioner filed another application seeking to convert the PIL back to a regular writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution.

Taking note of this change in the petitioner's stand, the court observed that the important public project had remained stalled since 2019 because of this petition.

It remarked, "And though the project has stood the test of technicalities, and that too pending the petition, and when the matter is at the verge of the conclusion, an application is made, exactly contrary to a previous application, for treating the present petition to be a petition with private interest, not realizing the harm that the litigation has already caused to the public interest".

Accordingly, the court disposed of the petition as withdrawn and imposed costs of ₹10,000 to be deposited within 30 days with the MP State Legal Services Authority.

For Petitioner: Advocates Krishna Kumar Pandey and Ashmita Chand

For State: Government Advocate Siddharth Singh Chouhan

For Intervenor: Advocates Alok Vagrecha and Abhinesh Soni