INFRASTRUCTURE WATCHDOG Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The contours of public interest litigation, premised on allegations of perceived corruption in purely commercial dealings between private parties, are required to be delineated by us in this writ petition.

(2.) We have heard Mr. Prashant Bhushan, learned Counsel for the petitioner, Mr. R. Venkataramani, the learned Attorney General for the Punjab National Bank "PNB", Mr. N. Venkatraman, the learned Additional Solicitor General "ASG" for the Bank of Maharashtra "BOM", Mr. Amit Tiwari, learned CGSC for the Union of India through the Ministry of Finance "MOF", Mr. Mukul Rohatgi and Mr. Rajiv Nayar, learned Senior Counsel for Asian Hotels (North) Pvt Ltd "AHN", Mr. Ravinder Agarwal for the Central Vigilance Commission "CVC" and Mr. Anupam S. Sharma for the Central Bureau of Investigation "CBI", of whom the CBI and CVC are pro forma parties, and have not contested the writ petition.

(3.) The respondents have, in one voice, opposed issuance of notice in the writ petition, submitting, inter alia, that even entertainment of this writ petition would throw the entire system of bona fide commercial dealings through banking channels into complete disarray.