Court dismisses public interest lawsuit as ‘personal’

GANDHINAGAR - The Gujarat High Court Friday dismissed as “personal” a public interest lawsuit (PIL) which claimed that the officer bearers of Surendranagar Peoples Cooperative Bank Ltd were responsible for irregularities and had duped the bank of Rs.85 crore of the depositors’ money.

The bank is under process of liquidation. The PIL filed by Gunvant Naraniya sought directions to the Reserve Bank of India, the registrar of cooperative societies and the chief executive officer of the bank to ensure return of the deposits of the account holders.

Alleging that the chairman, directors and other bank officials did not follow the banking regulations and disbursed the money amongst their “nearest and dearest ones”, the petitioner also urged the court to direct a criminal investigation against them.

A division bench of Chief Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya and Justice Akil Kureshi however rejected the petition, observing that the matter was not of a public interest but personal interest.

The court also observed that the present petitioner was one of the share holders of the bank and hence such petition could not be considered as a PIL.

“If you are one of the affected persons then the petition has nothing in public interest. The application is dismissed,” the court said.