Do Some Real Social Work, Go Clean A Beach; Bombay HC Directs 'Habitual Litigant' To Work For Afroz Shah

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed a litigant Rakesh Chavan to work for lawyer and environmentalist Afroz Shah and "do some real social work" to prove his bona fides.

Division bench of Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Bharati Dangre was hearing the PIL filed by Chavan wherein it was alleged that respondent company NESCO had filled a lake in Goregaon and was illegally constructing a building over it.

CJ Nandrajog went through the petition and said he could not ascertain what the petition was about. He then asked NESCO's counsel Senior Advocate Prasad Dhakephalkar to explain.

Dhakephalkar told the Court that PIL claims there was a lake and a well at the site where NESCO is presently constructing a building.

"The petitioner is a busy body who files petitions the moment any new construction starts. The said parcel of land was legitimately bought by NESCO in the 70's. A lake did exist on the cite but around 400 years ago!" Dhakephalkar said.

Petitioner sought restoration of the said lake and well at the site. He claimed to work for 'social upliftment and betterment of society'.

Court said-

"You want to work for the betterment of society, then do some real social work now. Go clean some beach, or do any other work that Afroz Shah assigns to you for a week."

The bench directed the state to ensure that Chavan went to Shah's office once on September 2 and did whatever was assigned to him.

This is not the first time High Court has passed such directions, in October 2018 two people accused of criminal intimidation were asked to volunteer for the Versova beach clean-up project started by Afroz Shah.

Shah, a Mumbai based lawyer teamed up with his late 84-year-old neighbour to start a weekly cleanliness drive at Versova beach. The work done by Shah is said to have transformed Versova beach.

The United Nations Environment Programme awarded Shah with the 'Champion of Earth' award.