SAMRAT CHOUDHURY Vs. TRIPURA STATE POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has challenged an order dated 6th November, 2019 passed by the Tripura State Pollution Control Board (TSPCB, for short) which reads as under :

(2.) The case of the petitioner is that under the said order the respondent No.5 is asked to hold an office without authority of law. The position being one of public office, the same is open to challenge before the High Court in a writ jurisdiction. The petitioner has declared that he has no personal interest in the matter but he is merely aggrieved by the usurpation of a public office by the respondent No.5 without authority of law. In essence thus the petitioner invokes the jurisdiction of this Court in exercise of quo warranto writ.

(3.) Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that since the petitioner is questioning the authority of the respondent No.5 to hold the public office in question and thus invoking the quo warranto jurisdiction of the High Court, the lack of his personal interest would be of no consequence. In this context, he placed heavy reliance on a decision of the Orissa High Court in case of Gunanidhi Mohapatra v. The Chairman, N.A.C., Bhubaneswar and others reported in AIR 1976 Orissa 181 in which following observations were made :