Bombay High Court relief for petitioner in Antilia case

In a relief to a social activist, who had filed PIL against a wakf land being sold to Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) chairman Mukesh Ambani, the Bombay high court on Tuesday reduced the cost imposed on him and also stated that the remarks made against the petitioner in the order is restricted to this petition only and it should not be considered in any other PIL.

The Bombay high court last month had disposed of the petition filed by Shadaab Patel on the ground that it was filed after 14 years of deal at a delayed stage. The division bench of Justice V.M. Kanade and Justice M.S. Sonak had also imposed a cost of Rs 50,000 on the petitioner and a sum of Rs 25,000 on the intervener who was supporting the petition.

The petition, however, was against listed before the bench on Tuesday as the respondent wanted some correction in the order. During hearing on request of the petitioner, the bench, headed by Justice Kanade, reduced the cost from Rs 50,000 to Rs 5,000.

Mr Patel’s lawyer Khan Javed Akhtar had also requested the court to delete observations made against the petitioner from the order because it could affect other PILs filed by him. Instead of removing those remarks, the bench clarified that these remarks are restricted to this petition and should not be considered in other PILs.

The PIL alleged that the land belonging to Currimbhoy Ebrahim Khoja Orphanage was allegedly sold to Ambani for a meagre Rs 21 crore in November 2002, which was less than 10 per cent of the actual price of the land.