Petitioner’s long and lonely battle against authorities

Hundreds of public interest litigations are pending before the Bombay high court which raise issues concerning the public at large and a few individuals are fighting a lonely legal battle to bring a positive change in the society. Shrikant Karve’s petition is pending for a long time, and despite the court issuing several directions, the government has not acted to implement the court. But Mr Karve has not given up, and his quest to bring about positive change is still underway.

"The time I decided to file the writ petition I calculated everything and was mentally prepared to fight a long legal battle," said Mr Karve, a resident of Pune. He has filed a petition challenging RTOs' practice of issuing fitness certificates to vehicles without conducting fitness tests as required by the norms.

Mr Karve, who himself was running a transport business until shutting it down in 1995 said, "An RTO officer asked Rs 700 as a bribe, which I refused to give and told him that somebody would teach him a good lesson. Later, I decided to teach him a lesson and filed a writ petition in the high court in 2012. After a year, a division bench headed by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar converted this petition into PIL, as it raised an issue concerning the public at large."

"So far the court has issued several directions but the government is adopting the strategy of killing time, and it is not taking any action against its officers who fail to comply with the court order or who violates the law," said Karve.

Since this petition caused trouble to many in transport business too, Karve also received threats in the past. He was provided with a security cover, but later he himself gave it up. He said, "I don't have any bad habit that needs too much money. I live a simple life.”

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