New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday, June 27, agreed to hear on Tuesday, June 28, a plea of the Union government challenging the Tripura high court orders on a PIL challenging the grant of security cover to industrialist Mukesh Ambani and his family members in Mumbai by Maharashtra government.
A vacation bench of Justices Surya Kant and J.B. Pardiwala was told by solicitor general Tushar Mehta that the high court had no jurisdiction to entertain the PIL (public interest litigation) as the Tripura government had nothing to do with the security cover provided to the Ambanis by the Union government on the recommendation of the Maharashtra government.
Based on a PIL filed by one Bikash Saha, Tripura high court had passed two interim orders on May 31 and June 21 and had directed the Union government to place the original file maintained by the ministry of home affairs (MHA) regarding threat perception and assessment report of Ambani, his wife and children on the basis of which security had been granted to them.
Against this backdrop, Mehta said he wanted the appeal to be heard urgently as the high court had asked home ministry officials to appear before it on Tuesday, June 28, with original records with regard to the threat perception to the Ambanis, and had stated no more adjournment will be granted.
“Security provided to one family cannot be an issue of public interest,” Mehta said, according to NDTV.
Continuing further, Mehta said the petition was filed by a person “who has no locus in the matter and is just a meddlesome interloper, claiming to be a social activist and student”. He termed the petition as “misconceived, frivolous and motivated”.
“[The high court] failed to appreciate that the family members were neither residents of Tripura nor any part of the cause of action remotely arising from Tripura existed,” Mehta said, according to the NDTV report.
(With PTI inputs)
