MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Monday imposed cost of Rs 1 lakh on an

from

for filing a "motivated" public interest litigation (PIL) seeking to "somehow or the other"

.

A bench of Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Bharati Dangre passed the order on the PIL filed last year by Abhivyakt, claiming that water from Panvel creek flows into a depression on a 6-hectare land forming a pond. It urged to declare it a wetland and protect it. Its advocate had on September 11 argued that debris was being dumped and 90% of the water body is encroached upon.

Cidco, Navi Mumbai's planning body denied the land was connected to any creek. It said rainwater collects in the slight depression during monsoon. The land is privately owned and acquired by the state for development. But the NGO insisted it's a wetland.

Last September, the Maharashtra Remote Sensing Application Centre's letter said atlas mapping done in 2005 showed no wetland at the site. The NGO said Isro has given wetland code to man made wetlands via mapping. But the Space Application Centre, Ahmedabad, last November said satellite mapping by Isrodid not detect any wetland there.

The judges noted that the pleadings and documents which they had noted bring out the "changing stand" of the petitioner and that the PIL was "motivated to somehow or the other

work in Navi Mumbai". They said the PIL was filed by "raising the bogie of environment being damaged and annexing with the PIL Google images obtained in monsoon".

"We hold the PIL to be frivolous and dismiss the same," the judges said, directing that it be paid to the High Court Legal Aid Fund.