On Monday, December 16, the Bombay High Court dismissed a petition against a power contract awarded by the Maharashtra government to Adani Group for supply of renewable and thermal power electricity. The plea stated that the award was “unsubstantiated and reckless”. The honourable Court, while dismissing the plea, also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the petitioner.
A division bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Amit Borkar heard the case and dismissed the frivolous petition.
The plea also leveled allegations against former state chief minister Eknath Shinde, who is currently the deputy CM, of having been involved in corrupt practices while awarding the contract to Adani Group. However, the petitioner’s allegations were totally unsubstantiated.
The petitioner also alleged that the contract awarded to the Adani Group for the supply of 6,600 megawatts of renewable and thermal power in Maharashtra was a violation of the petitioner’s fundamental right to have access to fair electricity supply at a reasonable rate.
However, the Bench noted, “In our opinion, filing of such petitions containing unsubstantiated and reckless averments run the risk of sometimes even good causes being lost.”
As per the Bench, the petition made “vague and unsubstantiated” assertions that the contract awarded was a scam involving government authorities.
The High Court said the petition did not contain any supporting materials to show the former chief minister Eknath Shinde was involved in any corrupt practices.
The petitioner was not a participant in the tender process of the contract, the court added.
“The petition is bereft of any substantiating and supporting material and contains absolutely bald and vague allegations,” the HC said dismissing the plea.
The court directed the Rs 50,000 cost to be deposited by the petitioner to the Maharashtra State Legal Services Authority.
