HC directs Maha BJP member to deposit Rs 2 lakh before it hears his PIL on minister's 'illegal' flight use

Bombay High Court. File Photo

The Bombay High Court on Monday directed BJP's media cell head for Maharashtra, Vishwas Pathak, to deposit Rs two lakh as security to prove his 'bonafide' before the court decides to hear the public interest litigation (PIL) filed by him against state energy minister Nitin Raut for allegedly using chartered flights during the pandemic lockdown.

In his plea filed last April, Pathak had sought a direction to the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) and three other state power utilities to recover amounts allegedly spent illegally on the chartered flights for cabinet minister Nitin Raut.

On Monday, Raut's advocates told the HC that Pathak's petition was not maintainable.

A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice M S Karnik then directed Pathak to deposit Rs two lakh as security to prove his bonafide.

"If the sum is deposited within a period of ten days, then the petition shall be listed for hearing two weeks thereafter. If the deposit is not made then the petition stands dismissed," the bench said.

In his PIL, Pathak had said that another person had obtained information under the Right to Information (RTI) from power generation and distribution companies, based on which he alleged that during the COVID-19 lockdown period, the concerned minister had used chartered flights on numerous occasions for 'administrative work' and had made the power companies pay the bills.

The PIL alleged that Raut used chartered flights for several trips between Mumbai, Nagpur, Hyderabad and Delhi, for which the debt-ridden power companies were made to pay over Rs 40 lakh during the lockdown.

The plea also said that the RTI queries made to MSEB revealed that the minister had used chartered flights at the cost of Rs 14.45 lakh for two trips to Nagpur in June and July 2020, for 'important administrative work.'

While most of the country's highest officials were performing their duties from remote and virtual setups, Raut flouted the existing norms on multiple occasions and took the liberty to travel around the country during the lockdown period for personal reasons under the pretext of administrative work," the PIL alleged.

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