Shrikant Prasad @ Jashwant Singh @ Yaswant Singh v. The State of Bihar
Case brief
What is this about?
Alternate-remedy dismissal at threshold: Patna High Court CWJC No.6079 of 2024, 19-04-2024, K. Vinod Chandran, CJ (with Harish Kumar, J). Shrikant Prasad @ Jashwant Singh @ Yaswant Singh v. State of Bihar (through DM, Patna) and 10 other respondents (officials of Patna/Paliganj/Dulhin Bazar and private individuals Ram Pravesh Paswan, Brij Lal Paswan, Sanjay Paswan, Mukesh Paswan). Court held: PIL cannot be maintained on the subject matter; extraordinary power unavailable where an alternate efficacious remedy exists; remedy lies under the Bihar Public Land Encroachment Act, 1956. Dismissed with liberty; no findings on merits or locus standi (left to the appropriate authority under the 1956 Act). Keywords: maintainability of PIL; alternate efficacious remedy; writ jurisdiction declined; Bihar Public Land Encroachment Act, 1956.
What did the court decide?
Dismissal with liberty to proceed under the alternate remedy (Bihar Public Land Encroachment Act, 1956); no observation on merits or locus standi.