High Court Dismisses PIL Against Creation Of A New District In Chhattisgarh

The Chhattisgarh High Court recently dismissed as withdrawn a Public Interest Litigation filed against creation of a new district namely Sarangarh–Bilaigarh in the State.

The petitioner had sought to set aside a notification issued by the state government whereby the new district is sought to be created by exercising the powers under Section 13(2) of the Chhattisgarh Land Revenue Code, 1959 by altering the limits of Raigarh and Baloda Bazar–Bhatapara.

The matter was posted before a Division Bench of Chief Justice Arup Kumar Goswami and Justice N.K. Chandravanshi.

The application was filed by the Gram Panchayat, Kandola, through its sarpanch Onkar Patel.

Additional Advocate General Meena Shastri submitted that four PILs on this subject, all filed in 2022, are already pending before the Court. Therefore, there is no justification for entertaining another public interest litigation on the same matter.

The Court noted that Rule 79(1) of the High Court of Chhattisgarh Rules, 2007 requires that the petition shall contain the statement of the petitioner whether any petition has been filed in the Court relating to the same cause.

The petitioner herein had made an averment that no other public interest litigation is pending on the same subject matter to the best of his knowledge.

At this juncture, Advocate Kale appearing for the petitioner, sought permission to withdraw his application with the liberty to file an appropriate application in the pending PIL petitions.

The Court granted liberty to the petitioner to file an application and remarked that in the event of filing such an application, the same should be considered in accordance with law.

Case Title: Gram Panchayat, Kandola through its' Sarpanch Onkar Patel v. The State of Chhattisgarh & Ors.

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Chh) 14

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