Today, On 23rd July, The Delhi High Court cautioned petitioners against filing cases based solely on media reports. “Don’t file litigation after reading newspapers,” the court said while hearing a matter lacking factual and legal backing from official sources.
The Delhi High Court advised a petitioner to refrain from filing litigation based solely on news articles, urging him to “do homework first.”
During a hearing, Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that sought to regulate external recruitment agencies for public sector banks and their affiliates.
The petition also called for an independent investigation by SEBI or CBI into alleged recruitment malpractices at Can Fin Homes Ltd (CFHL), a publicly traded company managed by Canara Bank.
The court labeled the petition as “half baked,” pointing out that a recent report indicated that a whistleblower had raised concerns about serious recruitment irregularities, but an inquiry found no evidence, leading to the matter being closed.
The judges questioned the credibility of newspaper reports, stating that the court cannot consider them unless supported by corroborating evidence.
Questioning the petitioner on why he had not approached SEBI or the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) if a crime had indeed occurred, the court inquired,
“What is evidence value of newspaper report? Do your research. These kind of petitions picking up one report or other. What catches your imagination after reading the newspaper?”
The judges emphasized that the petitioner should not treat the PIL process lightly.
They stated,
“A trend has been going on of gathering one or two information, mostly newspaper reports, and filing PIL and asking courts or other parties to produce evidence. You have to do your own homework. Newspaper padh ke PIL may file kiya kijiye (file PIL after reading news reports),”