HC Dismisses PIL Against 99th Indian Science Congress to be Held at KIIT

Bhubaneswar : Hon'ble High Court of Orissa dismissed a PIL filed by one Shri Manoj Das on behalf of some powerful persons seeking to cancel or shift the 99^th Indian Science Congress to be held at KIIT University, Bhubaneswar from 3-7 January 2012. Dismissing the PIL, the Hon'ble Court observed, "There is prayer of the petitioner made in the writ petition as well as the contempt made therein. In our considered opinion, this writ petition is frivolous and it has been filed with an ulterior motive without in any public interest. This type of litigation should be nipped at the bud. This petition is accordingly dismissed." The Division Bench, conducted by Hon'ble Shri Justice B. P. Das and Hon'ble Shri Justice B. K. Nayak, ruled that there is no public interest in the petition and that it seemed to be motivated by ulterior motive. The Hon'ble Court also directed the pleader of the petitioner, Shri Ashok Mahapatra to refrain from entertaining this type of anti-people and worthless cases. Shri J. P. Patnaik, Government pleader appealed for an exemplary fine on the petitioner for wasting the valuable time of court. Upon this Hon'ble Shri Justice B. P. Das imposed a fine, which was later waived following a request from the pleader of the appellant. Odisha has got opportunity to organized Indian Science Congress, the biggest science meet in the country, after a long gap of 34 years. However, some selfish people have been campaigning to stop this meet for the sake of their own self interest. This meet is matter a pride for the people of Odisha and it is unfortunate that some people are opposing it for their own selfish motives, Hon'ble Justices observed.