HC fines Maa Telangana Party for suppressing facts

HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court imposed a fine of RS. 50, 000 on Maa Telangana Party, represented by its president K. Veera Reddy, for filing a writ petition after suppressing the fact that he had earlier approached a legal forum for relief.

Reddy filed a petition before the High Court that bulk drug mafia and Pollution Control Board officials had colluded to create a fraudulent facility whereby factories and industrial units could avoid treating liquid effluents, thereby saving crores in meeting anti-pollution obligations. The petitioner sought directions to the PCB to take action against such companies.

The division bench comprising Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice C.V. Bhaskar Reddy sought the PCB’s reply. D. Darshana, appearing for PCB, submitted that the petitioner had approached the PCB’s appellate authority on the same issue. She submitted that the appellate authority had dismissed the application after verification.

Expressing despair with the attitude of the petitioner, the division bench imposed a fine and observed that the court would not encourage petitioners, who come with unclean hands.