The Bombay High Court on Friday disposed of a public interest litigation petition, which alleged that social activist Anna Hazare played a “main role” in corruption and irregularities in four public trusts of which he is member.
“We permit you to withdraw [the petition] with liberty to take other appropriate steps,” a Bench of Justices D.D. Sinha and V.K. Tahilramani told Hemant Patil. The court directed the petitioner to approach the Charity Commissioner and other appropriate appellate authorities.
The petition sought the court's direction for investigation and action against these public trusts, alleging that they had not yet submitted proper audit reports and were siphoning off public money.
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It appeared that one of them (Hind Swaraj Trust) was not acting or functioning in accordance with law. But the Charity Commissioner had so far not taken any action or filed any criminal complaint against the trustees despite having knowledge that they were involved in malpractices and siphoning off funds taken from individuals as donations by making misrepresentation to the public, the petition alleged.
Mr. Patil, president of the Rashtriya Bhrashtachar Virodhi Janshakti, told the court that he had already approached the Charity Commissioner but he did not even take cognisance of the complaint.
“Did you approach the appellate authorities?” the court asked. It said that the court could interfere only if authorities failed to discharge their duties.
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