Chhattisgarh High Court Dismisses PIL filed by Kshetriya Transport Association Sipat, Terms it Motivated Litigation

Bilaspur : The Chhattisgarh High Court has dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the Kshetriya Transporter Welfare Association, Sipat against NTPC Limited, Sipat, and imposed exemplary costs of ₹50,000 for misuse of the PIL jurisdiction.

The Association, through its president Shatrughan Kumar Laskar, had approached the Court seeking directions to stop overloading of trucks carrying fly ash from NTPC Sipat and to mandate covering of trucks with tarpaulin to prevent pollution. It also sought strict enforcement of provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act on the Sipat–Bilaspur–Baloda road.

However, the Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Ravindra Kumar Agrawal held that the petition lacked bona fides. The Court observed that the petitioner, being a transporter himself, had a direct commercial interest in NTPC’s transportation contracts, and had even written to authorities seeking priority for “regional transporters” and fixation of freight rates.

The Bench further noted that a similar matter is already under judicial consideration in W.P.(PIL) No. 37/2024, where the Court has taken suo motu cognizance of issues relating to overloading and road safety. Despite this, the petitioner chose to file a parallel petition, which the Court said was intended not to serve public interest but to further his personal trade rivalry.

Significantly, the Court also recorded that an FIR was registered against the petitioner in July 2025 for allegedly obstructing vehicles engaged in NTPC’s gravel transportation, threatening drivers, and causing law-and-order disturbances. Suppression of this fact in the petition, the Bench held, was itself sufficient to doubt the petitioner’s credibility.

“Public Interest Litigation is a tool meant to protect the rights of the poor and marginalized, not a weapon for private vendetta or business rivalry,” the Court observed, stressing that frivolous PILs waste valuable judicial time and undermine the sanctity of this extraordinary jurisdiction.

Accordingly, the petition was dismissed at the threshold with costs of ₹50,000, directed to be deposited with Specialized Adoption Agencies in Gariyaband and Balod. The security amount deposited by the petitioner was also forfeited.