Shimla: Not convinced about any mala fides as alleged by HP Cricket Association against chief minister Virbhadra Singh and Registrar Societies RD Nazeem in a case related to control of Dharamshala cricket stadium and a luxury hotel, the High Court dismissed the pleas seeking to make them respondents in personal capacity to the case.
HPCA has gone to court over control of a cricket stadium and construction of a luxury hotel in Dharamshala that the government forcibly attempted to take over in 2013.
For including the chief minister and registrar cooperatives as respondents in their personal capacity, the association had pleaded that Virbhadra Singh besides leveling allegations in various newspapers had taken a decision to take over possession of leased land along with building with ulterior motive.
The allegations leveled were about irregularities in allotment of lands, construction of hotel and ground and about change of petitioner society to company.
For making Registrar Cooperatives as a respondent, HPCA pleaded before the court that an order passed by him on 28 October, 2013 was done so under influence of the chief minister.
The court recorded that it was HP High Court which had directed the Registrar Societies to decide under whose jurisdiction the functioning of HPCA lay with.
Coming to the question whether the chief minister and the registrar societies could be made respondents to the case in their personal capacity, the division bench of Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir and Justice Tarlok Chauhan after rejecting the HPCA plea dismissed the applications.
Writing for the bench Acting Chief Justice Mir noted, “the applicant has to plead and carve out a case that there are grounds which do disclose that the acts and actions of the said person are outcome of malafide or bias or has to show that there are grounds to presume that the said party has acted with malafide and bias.
The judges also observed that, “the findings recorded by the High Court on the question of mala fides do not appear to us to be factually or legally sustainable.”
“No prima facie case is made out for arraying proposed respondents as party/ parties in the array of respondents. Thus both the applications are dismissed,” the judgment decreed.
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads a team of media professionals at Hill Post.
Spanning a career of over two decades in mass communication, as a Documentary Filmmaker, TV journalist, Print Media journalist and with Online & Social Media, he brings with him a vast experience. He lives in Shimla.
