K.C. HARIKUMAR Vs. GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) BY this application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, in the nature of a Public Interest Litigation, the petitioners who are the Executives of the Oil and Natural Gas Commission Limited (for short, 'ONGC') presently working in the State of Gujarat have prayed for the following reliefs :

(2.) FACTS shortly stated may be summed up thus :

(3.) THE petition is thoroughly misdirected and gives a complete false and incorrect picture of the activities undertaken by the respondent no.5 ­ ONGC Officers Mahila Samiti. Ex facie, it appears to be an attempt to malign the respondent no.5 as well as its office bearers for some oblique motive and for probably trying to show the ONGC officers who are spouses of the members of respondent no.5 in bad light with a malafide intention. It is stated that there is no public interest whatsoever and the present petition be dismissed. The ONGC Officers' Mahila Samiti is an independent body and was registered as ONGC ladies club under the Societies Act in 1982 and was renamed as ONGC Mahila Samiti. The OOMS was registered as charitable and social trust on 21 st December 2007 at Sub-Registrar Officer, Dehradun, having 28 units located at different work centres of the ONGC i.e. Assam and Tripura in the East to Gujarat and Maharashtra in the West and Rajahmundry, Chennai and Karaikal in the South to Dehradun in the North having approximately 2000 members who are wives of the ONGC donors, including the ONGC contractors. Besides, cultural and social activities, of late, the OOMS have taken up CSR projects in a big way, in conformity to the suggestions of the ONGC Management to involve the OOMS in CSR and image building activities. The OOMS have been receiving numerous requests from various sources, including from individual patients suffering with critical ailments and acute diseases for financial help. There were also requests from poor people seeking financial assistance for higher studies, formation of staff help group etc. All such requests were being referred by different units of the OOMS to the Central Executive Committee of the OOMS for sympathetic consideration mostly orally besides some written requests.