The Bombay High Court (Nagpur Bench) has asked a man who is seeking directions for construction of a statue of Chatrapati Shivaji to deposit Rs 3 lakh in the court to show his bonafides.
The direction was passed by the Bench of Justices Ravindra Ghuge and Sanjay Deshmukh while hearing a PIL filed by a man (Rahul Bhosale) who submitted to court that he has raised Rs 50 Lakh through crowd funding for the statute.
In its order, the court noted that the Registrar (Judicial) has indicated that the petition lacks the object of public interest and in order to test the bonafides of the petitioner the court has directed Rs 3 lakh should be deposited in the court.
At first, the petitioner requested the court to reduce the amount to Rs 50000 but he later agreed to deposit Rs 3 lakh. He further said that he will deposit the amount from his own savings and not from the money that has been collected.
Pursuant to the same, the court granted the petitioner time till February 28 to deposit the amount and posted the matter to March 3.
Title: Rahul Narayan Bhosale versus State of Maharashtra
Case No. 948/2023