New Delhi, Apr 3 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Thursday reprimanded a man for making scandalous allegations against environmental lawyer and activist M C Mehta and said it is only because of cases filed by him that the law on pollution evolved in India.
A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuya stopped short of imposing costs on petitioner Mukesh Jain, President of outfit named Ram Rakshak Shri Dara Sena.
Jain in his petition alleged Mehta of receiving money from international agencies with links to the Naxalites.
"Personally, we do not know who M C Mehta is but a large number of petitions were filed by him raising environmental issues in which orders have been passed from 1980. It is only because of exercise taken by this court in cases filed by M C Mehta that law relating to pollution has evolved which has helped the government and other public institutions to reduce the pollution. These are orders which saved Taj Mahal from drastic effect of pollution," the bench said.
It said it did not find the allegations made in the petition bona fide.
"In fact, we would have been justified in imposing cost. We are not doing so because this is the fist time the applicant has indulged in such conduct. We put him to notice that such reckless allegations will not be tolerated," the bench said.
The allegations were made in an application filed by Jain during hearing on a case related to ban on fire crackers.
Claiming that bursting of crackers cleans the environment, Jain sought removal of ban on firecrackers.
Reading from his application, Jain accused Mehta of working under a conspiracy funded by the Ford Foundation and "international governments."
He alleged that Mehta had amassed Rs 500 crore assets by filing cases.
When the court asked him to substantiate these claims, he said, "No lawyer works for free."