To the relief of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and senior Government officials, the Himachal Pradesh High Court on Wednesday held that petition of Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) to implead Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh as respondent was misconceived and dismissed.
A Division Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir and Justice Kuldip Singh observed in their order, “We, however, wonder why the petitioners have filed application for arraying non-applicants as party-respondents in terms of Order 1, Rule 10 of CPC and that is also drafted on November 20th, and filed on November 22, 2013, alongwith the application for leave to amend, where as state had withdrawn its order on November 19, 2013, therefore application is mis-conceived.”
Court also dismissed the similar petition against Kangra SP Balbir Singh Thakur, DGP Sanjay Kumar and Kangra DC C Paulrasu to be made as respondent. The division bench added in its detailed order that the petitioners (HPCA) have sought writ of certiorari quashing orders, letters, communications dated October 26, 2013 made by State, which stands withdrawn and has lost life in its entirety.
The State Government had withdrawn its order of October 26, 2013, of cancellation of leases granted to the HPCA. The HPCA contended that Registrar cooperative society is acting under the command of present Chief Minister therefore they are apprehending a biased decision. Advocate General Sharvan Dogra had argued that the HPCA concealedmaterial facts from the court. He submitted that HPCA deliberately did not bring to the notice of the court that government has withdrawn its letters of taking possession of the HPCA stadiums in its application for amendment of the writ petition.
He contended that writ petition has become infructuous as the relief claimed by the petitioner was already granted by the government by withdrawing its earlier orders. He urged the court to permit the registrar to pass final order against the statutory proceedings pending before him.