Bombay HC nixes PIL against Maharashtra order to issue Kunbi caste certs

Mumbai: Observing there is a need to discourage the trend of multiplicity of litigation, Bombay HC Thursday dismissed a PIL challenging Maharashtra govt’s decision to issue Kunbi caste certificates to members of Maratha community. “It is in the larger public interest that there should not be multiplicity of litigations, where different individuals file applications one after the other under the guise of public interest,” HC said.A bench of CJ Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad remarked that the petitioner, an advocate from SC community, was not an aggrieved party. The state advocate general Birendra Saraf submitted that over half a dozen petitions were already pending before various benches, challenging the same GR. Saraf said the GR doesn’t pertain to SC certificates. “It simply sets up a mechanism to facilitate an enquiry into whether a Maratha individual can prove Kunbi ancestry. It does not affect the SCs in any manner,” he said. The PIL was originally intended to give a voice to the voiceless masses or sections of society, the HC orally observed and added, “A writ petition, claiming to be a PIL involving a subject matter of this nature, is clearly not in the category of cases where the writ court should grant indulgence. Wishful thinking or merely raising an arguable issue is not a ground for PIL.”