Wayanad landslide: Kerala High Court junks PIL alleging relief fund collection on political, religious lines

The Kerala High Court on Friday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by a practicing advocate seeking measures to monitor the collection of funds for the victims of the landslides that hit Wayanad district last week [C Shukkur v. State of Kerala & Ors.]..The PIL also alleged that various persons and organisations have been using political and religious labels while collecting funds.A Division Bench of Justices AK Jayasankaran Nambiar and Syam Kumar VM questioned the motive behind filing such a PIL, pointing out that there is nothing illegal about collecting relief funds. The Bench also noted that the petitioner had not provided anything to back up his allegation of improper collection or use of funds. "This is not a PIL, it is a publicity stunt. You want your name to attached with the Wayanad disaster. How is this in public interest? We will impose costs", the Bench orally remarked. The Court further pointed out that the petitioner had not approached the State government, police or district administration authorities with any of his allegations.Ultimately, the Court dismissed the petition and imposed costs of ₹25,000 to be paid to the Chief Minister's Disaster Relief Fund. Upon noticing that the petitioner is a practicing advocate, the Court added that it ought to have imposed much higher costs but refrained from doing so in this case. "The petitioner is a lawyer. We should increase it to 50,000. This is atrocious, you are supposed to be an officer of the court,", the Bench orally remarked. .The PIL petition filed by advocate C Shukkur raised concerns regarding the parallel collection of funds by private parties when the government is officially raising funds. The petitioner argued that there is a lack of accountability and that it would result in misuse and misallocation of funds. Pertinently, he argued that the private parties were collecting funds on religious and political lines and that there will be disparity in the usage of these funds."When funds are utilised and houses are constructed under different labels in different styles by different religious or political parties and other organisations, that will also amount to discrimination among the victims and that will affect their constitutional right to be treated equally", the PIL petition stated. Therefore, he sought for orders to the State government to set up a centralised system of collecting and utilising funds. He also sought for orders to conduct an enquiry into the collection and distribution of funds to rule out any misuse. .Advocates Abdul Raoof Pallipath, E Mohammed Shafi, Prajit Ratnakaran and Sithara Raheem VK represented the petitioner.Government Pleader V Tekchand appeared for the State.