The Rajasthan High Court has dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by a retired Chief Engineer of the Electricity Department, challenging the joint venture between Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd. (RRVUNL) and National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd. (NTPC). The Court imposed a total cost of ₹1.5 lakh on the petitioner, identifying the PIL as driven by personal motives and an abuse of judicial process.
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The Division Bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice Anand Sharma heard the case and strongly criticised the petitioner for filing what they termed a baseless and speculative petition.
“The venture of the petitioner to file PIL is to seek judicial intervention towards assessment, at this stage, with regard to the rates of production and supply in future... such arrangements may lead to increased cost of production. Determination of tariff depends upon many factors which cannot be gone into by this Court.”
Filed on the grounds that the joint venture could allegedly result in higher electricity tariffs, the PIL was dismissed after the Court reviewed the terms and objectives of the JV agreement signed on 04.11.2024. The JV was formed to enhance the efficiency and output of the Chhabra Thermal Power Plant by adding new 660MW/800MW supercritical units and operating the existing ones more effectively.
The Court noted that the partnership was strictly between two government entities—RRVUNL and NTPC—and was aimed at long-term cost-effective power generation, without involvement of any private parties.
“On the face of the objectives, the joint venture... not involving any private party, has been entered into not only for the establishment of additional power generation units but also cost effective generation.”
It was further observed that the PIL seemed to represent the interests of a section of the employees’ union opposing the joint venture, rather than any genuine public interest.
“The petition appears to be motivated to only espouse the cause of certain sections of employees association who are opposing the joint venture. This is clear from various representations which have been placed on record.”
Terming the litigation a “sheer wastage” of court’s time, the Court ordered the petitioner to pay ₹1 lakh in addition to the ₹50,000 already deposited as security.
The final judgment reads:
“We are of the view that this kind of PIL is nothing but an abuse of the process of law and sheer wastage of precious time of the Court... The instant PIL petition is accordingly, dismissed.”
This decision sets a clear precedent against misuse of public interest litigation to serve personal or sectional agendas.
Title: Ajay Chaturvedi v State of Rajasthan & Ors.
