The High Court
Case Details
IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK W.P.(C)NO.1095 of 2023 Sourav Sekhar Behera …. Petitioner Mr. S.S. Behera (in person) -versus- The High Court of Orissa …. Opposite Parties Mr. S. Rath, ASC CORAM: JUSTICE BIRAJA PRASANNA SATAPATHY ORDER 21.07.2023 Order No 12. 1. This matter is taken up through Hybrid Arrangement (Virtual/Physical) Mode. 2.
Legal Reasoning
Heard Mr. S. S. Behera, the Petitioner in person and Mr. S. Rath, learned Addl. Standing Counsel. 3. This writ petition has been filed by the Petitioner in person with the following prayer. <It is, therefore, most respectfully prayed that, this Hon9ble Court may graciously be pleased to allow this writ petition and issue writ of mandamus by directing the Opposite Party <the High Court of Orissa= to provide the approval of the compensation of constitutional codes during the maintenance of petitioner 8WP(C ) /29055/20229 so far along with request to provide petition 8WP(C )/29055/20229 to any Cuttack division bench without involving Mr. A.K. Mohapatra for the further analysis of the Petitioner. violation because the of And further direction be issued to the Opposite Party <The High Court of Orissa= to assign the current/present petition to any Cuttack division bench only without involving Mr. A.K. Mohapatra for justice.= // 2 // 4. Taking into account the prayer made, this Court passed a detailed order on 03.02.2023 to the following effect : <1. This matter Arrangement (Virtual/Physical) Mode. is taken up through Hybrid 2. Heard Mr. Sourav Sekhar Behera-the Petitioner in Person. 3. The Present Writ Petition has been filed by the Petitioner with the following prayer. <It is, therefore, most respectfully prayed that, this Hon9ble Court may graciously be pleased to allow this writ petition and issue writ of mandamus by directing the Opposite Party <The High Court of Orissa= to provide the approval of the compensation because of the violation of constitutional codes during the maintenance of petition 8WP(C) No.29055/20229 so far along with request to provide petition WP (C) No.29055/2022 to any Cuttack division bench without involving Mr. A.K. Mohapatra for the further analysis of the petitioner. And further direction be issued to the Opposite Party <The High Court of Orissa= to assign the current/present petition to any Cuttack division bench only without involving Mr. A.K. Mohapatra for justice. And/or further be pleased to pass any other order/orders, direction/directions as this Hon9ble Court deems just fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the present case; And for this act of kindness, the petitioner as in duty bound shall ever pray.= 4. It is found that initially, the present Petitioner filed W.P.(C ) No.20808 of 2021 which he conducted in person also and this Court also after hearing him passed a detailed order on 14.10.2022. The said order is reproduced hereunder. 1. This matter Arrangement (Virtual /Physical Mode). taken up is through Hybrid Page 2 of 10 // 3 // 2. Heard Mr.Sourav Sekhar Behera, Advocate, the Petitioner in person and Sri P.C.Das, learned Addl. Standing Counsel for the State of Odisha. 3. Perused the Writ Petition and the materials placed before this Court for consideration. 4. The present Writ Petition has been filed with the following prayer: <In the above premises, it is prayed that this Hon9ble Court may be pleased to issue a Writ of Mandamus or any other Writ in the same nature directing the respondent to: i) Rectify the damages and to provide back the ownership of my life as per government scope of business & <Right to life and personal liberty= of article 21 of Indian Constitution. ii) Legal compensation for my physical losses as per mentioned IPC used in Para 1 to 19 of Indian Constitution along with all business efforts as per the business petition rules otherwise cheating to my life. iii) Consider my life as non-business partner and to take necessary care and decision as mentioned constitutional codes. iv) Decide like < I should not feel even pain if somebody is asking for the same business in my life further= and do not make it whole country fun and one life as per government amendment/petition for same business. individual pain further in my v) Do not utilize me outside of the country over the same business. Kindly stop this on high priority. vi) Voyeurism (354C IPC) & Mental Harassment section has to be defined by constitution based upon < Right to equality= Article 14 for non-business partners. Vii. Pass such other orders and further orders as may be deemed necessary on the facts and in the circumstances of the case. And for this act of kindness, the Petitioner shall ever pray.=
Decision
5. At the outset, this Court would like to observe that upon a repeated reading of the Writ Petition, this Court was unable to understand the exact grievance of the Petitioner and the averments made in the Writ Petition. Further, the prayer made in the Writ Petition Page 3 of 10 // 4 // is not supported by any specific pleadings or documents. 6. The background of the present Writ Petition is that the Writ Petition was presented before this Court on 20th July, 2021 by the Petitioner in person. Thereafter, on a careful scrutiny of the entire order sheets, it appears that the matter was listed for the first time on 11th August, 2021. On that day, none appeared for the Petitioner and therefore, the matter was adjourned. Thereafter, the matter was again listed on 15th September, 2021 and on that day also none appeared on behalf of the Petitioner and accordingly, the matter was adjourned. Again, the matter was listed on 26th October, 2021on which date also none appeared for the Petitioner and the matter was adjourned to 2nd November, 2021. On 2nd November, 2021 none appeared for the Petitioner although, learned counsel appearing for the State pointed out that the Petitioner is to appear in person and accordingly, the coordinate Bench of this Court was pleased to adjourn the matter. 7. While the above narration of the scenario of the Writ Petition pending before this Court, the Petitioner approached the Hon9ble Supreme Court of India by filing Writ Petition (Civil) No.23 of 2022. On perusal of the records, it appears that the above noted Writ Petition (Civil) No.23 of 2022 filed before the Hon9ble Supreme Court was taken up for heating on 29th August, 2022. It appears that the Petitioner also did not appear before the Hon9ble Supreme Court of India on the date of hearing. However, the Hon9ble Supreme Court took up the matter for hearing and by order dated 29th August, 2022 disposed of the above Writ Petition (civil). On a careful reading of the order dated 29th August, 2022, it appears that the Hon9ble Apex Court proceeded in the matter assuming that the main grievance of the Petitioner is that the Writ Petition filed by him s pending before this Court and not being is adjourned. Finally the Hon9ble Apex Court disposed of the Writ Petition with the following observation. listed for hearing and the same < xxxxx Instead of passing any order in the present writ petition, we direct the Registry to send a copy of this petition to the Registrar General of the Orissa High Court, which will be placed before Hon9ble Chief Justice of the High Court and we request the Chief Justice of the High Court to look into the aspect of the listing of the matters urgently and at the earliest. The High Court may also adopt the procedure of auto-listing of the matters so that after Page 4 of 10 // 5 // filing of a matter, the same is listed before the concerned Court at the earliest and preferably within a period of 7-10 days automatically. These are only suggestions, which may be considered by the High Court so that the matters which are filed are listed before the concerned Court at the earliest. With this, the Writ Petition stands disposed of.= 8. As has been narrated hereinabove, after filing of the present Writ Petition by the Petitioner in person on 20th July, 2021, the same was listed first on 11th August, 2021, thereafter the same was listed on 15th September, 2021, 26th October, 2021 and 2nd November, 2021. However, none appeared on behalf of the Petitioner when the matter was listed and taken up by the respective Benches for hearing of the matter. It appears that these facts were not brought to the notice of the Hon9ble Apex Court when the Writ Petition (Civil) No.23 of 2022 was being heard. After receipt of a copy of the order dated 9. 29th August, 2022 passed in Writ Petition (Civil) No.23 of 2022 by the Hon9ble Apex Court, the matter was placed before the Hon9ble the Chief Justice of this Court on 6th September, 2022 and by order of the Hon9ble the Chief Justice, the matter was specifically assigned to this bench and accordingly, the same was listed on 7th September, 2022. On 7th September, 2022 the Petitioner appeared in person through virtual mode and gave an undertaking to this Court to serve a copy of the Writ Petition on the learned Additional Standing Counsel in course of the day and accordingly, the matter was adjourned to 13th September, 2022. On 13th September, 2022, since a copy of the Writ Petition had not been served on the learned Additional Standing Counsel, as directed by this Court vide order dated 7th September, 2022 the Petitioner, who was appearing in person through virtual mode, again assured this Court to serve a copy of the Writ Petition on the learned Additional Standing Counsel through e-mail within a week. Thereafter the matter was taken up for hearing on 19th September, 2022, on which date, the Petitioner appeared in person through virtual mode and argued the matter for some time. However, this Court was unable to understand any of the submissions made by the Petitioner in person and further upon a careful examination of the pleadings, this Court found that the same is beyond comprehension of this Court. Although a substantial time was allotted to the Petitioner in person to explain his case, but he was unable to make the Court understand the grievance of Page 5 of 10 // 6 // the Petitioner and the relief sought for in the Writ Petition. Accordingly, the Petitioner was directed to file a written note of submission and the matter was posted on 26.09.2022. 10. On 26th September, 2022 when the matter was taken up for further hearing, the Petitioner in person pursuant to a query of this Court, submitted that he has already submitted his written note of argument. However, since the same was not available on record, the matter was taken up on 28th September, 2022 giving some time to the Office to trace out the copy of the written note of argument filed by the Petitioner. At this juncture, it may not be out of place to mention here that till date a copy of the written note of argument stated to have been filed by the Petitioner in person is not on record. On 26th September,2022 the matter was adjourned to 28th September, 2022 for filing of the written note of argument. Finally, the matter was listed today for hearing. Since the copy of the written note of argument of the Petitioner was not on record, leaned Additional Standing Counsel informs this Court that he has received a copy of the written note of argument filed by the Petitioner in person and copy of the said written note of submission was provided to this Court today i.e., on 10th October, 2022 when the matter was taken up for hearing. The Petitioner in person appeared through virtual mode and addressed this Court. 11. After hearing the Petitioner in person, this Court was unable to understand the facts as well as the grievance and prayer of the Petitioner available in the present Writ Petition. However, whatever little bit, this Court could understand is that the Petitioner was doing some business in partnership, wherein he suffered some loss due to some decision taken by the State Government. Even on perusal of the written note of argument, no clear picture is coming forth with regard to the factual documents and the relief sought for in the Writ Petition. However, considering the mental state of the Petitioner, this Court as well as the learned Additional Standing Counsel appearing on behalf of the State tried to understand the real problem faced by the Petitioner. Since there was no clarity either in the argument or in the pleadings, this Court is not in a position to adjudicate the matter. 12. In view of the aforesaid facts and circumstances, and further taking into consideration the mental condition of the Petitioner in person, this Court disposes of the Writ Petition by granting liberty to the Petitioner to approach the competent authority, who Page 6 of 10 // 7 // can effectively redress the grievance of the Petitioner by affording an opportunity of hearing to the issuing any Petitioner. Therefore, while not mandamus at this juncture, the Petitioner is directed to approach any competent authority/forum, who according to the Petitioner can redress his grievance within a period of two weeks from today along with the certified copy of this order. In the event, the Petitioner approaches such authority along with a properly drafted representation, the authority shall do well to consider the case of the Petitioner and if necessary shall provide an opportunity of hearing and dispose of the same within a period of six weeks thereafter. 13. With the aforesaid observation, the Writ Petition is disposed of. 14. Issue urgent certified copy of this order as per Rules. 5. Instead of complying the order passed by this Court on 14.10.2022, the Petitioner again filed another Writ Petition i..e W.P.(C) No. 29055 of 2022 with the following prayer: <It is, therefore, most respectfully prayed that, this Hon9ble Court may graciously be pleased to allow this writ petition and issue writ of mandamus by directing the Opposite Party No.1-The High Court of Orissa to provide compensation of minimum ten crores the violation of constitutional codes happened during the hearing procedure of <WP(C) No.20808/2021 in High Court. for And further direction be issued to the Opposite Party No.2 to make a sigh of the copy of current prayer by Naveen Patnaik or by somebody on behalf of him to keep alive all possible scope of petitioner <WP(C ) No.20808/2021= till end of justice as it is wrongfully disposed on <14.10.2022=. And/or further be pleased to pass any other order/orders, direction/directions as this Hon9ble Court deems just fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the present case; And for this act of kindness, the petitioner as in duty bound shall ever pray.= 6. The Writ Petition in W.P.(C ) No.29055 of 2022 though was on 23.12.2022,03.01.2023 and 12.01.2023, but the listed before this Court Page 7 of 10 // 8 // Petitioner never appeared on all those dates. On 20.01.2023, when the matter was again listed, the in person and this Court petitioner appeared allowed him time till 09.02.2023 to remove the defects pointed out by the Stamp Reporter. But in between, the present Writ Petition was filed by the Petitioner on 12.01.2023 with the prayer as indicated hereinabove. 7. From all those petitions and the prayer made, it is found that the petitioner is raising a private claim and though this Court vide order dated 20.01.2023 permitted him to approach the competent authority for its consideration, but instead of doing that, the petitioner is repeatedly approaching this Court and making serious allegation, which has no basis at all. 8. Having heard Mr. S.S. Behera, the Petitioner, in person, when this Court formed an opinion that the petitioner requires some medical treatment in order to assess his mental status, Mr. Behera submitted that he has no objection to go for the same. Accordingly, in view of such concession, this Court directs learned Additional Standing Counsel to refer Mr. Sourav Sekhar Behera, the Petitioner, to a team of doctors in the Department of Psychiatric, S.C.B. Medical College & Hospital, Cuttack. The said team of doctors will examine Mr. Behera. As per the undertaking given by the Petitioner that he will appear before the Superintendent, SCB Medical College & Hospital, Cuttack on 7th February, 2023 at in the morning, on his appearance, 10 A.M Superintendent, S.C.B. Medical College & Hospital, Cuttack shall take necessary step to get the petitioner examined by a team of doctors of the Psychiatric Department and submit a report about his mental condition to this Court by 15th February, 2023. List this matter on 15th February, 2023. A free copy of this order be provided to Mr. A.P. for learned Additional Standing Counsel Das, necessary intimation. A free copy of this order also be provided to Mr. Sourav Sekhar Behera, the Petitioner, in course of the day.= Page 8 of 10 // 9 // Pursuant to the said order, the Petitioner was duly examined by a team of doctors of the Psychiatric Deptt., S.C.B. Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack and a report was submitted to this Court. The report of the Medical Board dt.07.02.2023 and letter of the Director-cum- Medical Superintendent, Mental Health Institute, S.C.B., Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack dt.09.03.2023 was produced before this Court on 25.04.2023. 5. From the said report, it is found that the Petitioner is suffering from <Schizophrenia=. The Petitioner because of such suffering from the above mentioned disease was admitted in Mental Health Institute of S.C.B Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack vide OPD Regd. NO.22958/07.02.2023 and IPD Regd. NO.1341/13.02.2023. He was given treatment for the said disease and was also partially improved. But when his father became reluctant to continue with the treatment as advised, he was discharged on 02.03.2023 basing on an undertaking and with advice to continue with the medicine at home. 6. The Petitioner who was also provided with a copy of the report in terms of order dt.30.06.2023 however contended that he is not suffering from any disease and prays for grant of appropriate relief as prayed for. 8 . Having heard the Petitioner in person, after going through the materials placed by the Petitioner in the Writ Petition, the Interim Applications and the report of the Medical Board, this Court is of the view that the Petitioner because of his mental state of mind has made unnecessary allegation against a sitting Judge of this Page 9 of 10 // 10 // Court, even though a reasoned order has been passed in W.P.(C ) No.29055 of 2022. Therefore, this Court is not inclined to entertain the Writ Petition with the prayer as made by the Petitioner. 7. Even though this Court was of the opinion to send the Petitioner for further treatment, but Mr. Behera submitted that he does not require any further treatment. In view of such position, the Writ Petition and the pending I.As are disposed of. (Biraja Prasanna Satapathy) Judge sangita Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed Signed by: SANGITA PATRA Reason: authentication of order Location: high court of Orissa, Cuttack Date: 04-Aug-2023 13:02:51 Page 10 of 10