Karnataka High Court has rejected the public interest litigation filed against Jai Kisan Wholesale Vegetable Market regarding the allegations of irregularities and permissions as the petition being devoid of merits.
Bharatiya Krishak Samaj (Samyukta) President Sidagouda Modagi and five others had filed PIL in the Karnataka High Court at Bengaluru against Department of Urban Development, Deputy Commissioner, Belagavi, Belagavi Urban Development Authority, Belagavi City Corporation, Agriculture Produce Market Committee, Department of Agricultural Marketing and Jai Kisan Wholesale Vegetable Market bearing writ petition No 21294 of 2022.
Chief Justice Prasanna Varale and Justice Krishna Dixit rejected the petition on January 10, 2024.
High Court while referring to the earlier orders passed by the High Court in an earlier PIL filed by one Mohammed Rafiq Khanapuri in 2017 on the same subject, held that the court has not reserved liberty to anyone to challenge the building permissions issued to Jai Kisan.
The court also took note of two other PILs filed by another 15 persons during 2020 which were was also dismissed in its order dated March 1, 2021 on the ground that the petitioners therein were not pro-bono litigants but the present petitioners have approached the court belatedly and case after case has been filed against Jai Kisan Vegetable Market and many of those who filed the PILs were also merchants.
High Court also observed that though some of the petitioners claim to be agriculturists, it is not that all they are naive to the worldly affairs and therefore the present petition was filed with delay. Further the court observed that the petitioners claiming to be agriculturists have not even declared their land holdings and though forgery and fraud are alleged against Jai Kisan, there are no material particulars available and no such allegations were made in the earlier PILs.
High Court also rejected the allegation of petitioners about issuance of building permissions by BCC after substantial construction of market etc.