Santanu Halder And ORS v. State Of West Bengal And ORS.

11.07.2023 Item No.19 gd/ssd WPA(P)/10/2023 SANTANU HALDER AND ORS.

VS THE STATE OF WEST BENGAL AND ORS.

Mr. Shuvro P. Lahiri, Mr. Rajesh Naskar, Md. Jannat ul Firdous ..for the Petitioners.

Mr. Samrat Sen, Mr. Amrita lal Chatterjee ..for the State.

Mr. Subir Sanyal, Mr. Ratul Biswas, Mr. Sagnik Roy Chowdhury ..for the Respondent Nos.11 and 12.

1. This writ petition has been filed as a public interest litigation with three petitioners alleging that they are representing the villagers and the allegation is against the private respondents stating that after they have been elected as the Panchayat President their wealth has increased considerably.

2. The learned advocate appearing for the private respondents submitted that there is no genuinity in the present writ petition as all the three petitioners had contested the earlier election and the first petitioner lost the election against the private respondents, the second petitioner was the booth

representative and the third petitioner contested the election and he was successful.

3. It is the submission of the learned advocate for the petitioners that the representation has been signed by several persons.

4. Be that as it may, it is the only three persons who have come before this court and in the light of the facts which has been brought on record by the learned advocate appearing for the private respondents, this cannot be treated as a genuine public interest litigant as there appears to be personal and political rivalry between the private respondents and the writ petitioners.

5. Therefore, the writ petition cannot be entertained and stands disposed of.

6. However, this will not prevent a genuine public interest litigation to expose his cost in the manner known to law.

(T. S. SIVAGNANAM) CHIEF JUSTICE (HIRANMAY BHATTACHARYYA, J.)