Mitali Palnitkar
Published on: March 22, 2022 at 13:53 IST
The Delhi High Court refused to entertain a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), which sought the Recovery of Rs 1 Trillion in debt from Pakistan that it allegedly owes to India.
The Division Bench comprised Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Navin Chawla. It opined that the Petition was with respect to Government Policy and hence, refused to entertain it.
Om Sehgal, the Party-in-person annexed several documents to prove that India gave Rs 300 crore to Pakistan as loan during the Partition and that it owes to pay an amount of Rs 1 Trillion after adding the interest.
He stated, “There are over 100 pages including papers documenting the fact that Pakistan owes India about one trillion rupees. Irrespective of this, I know when files of pre-partition debt were misplaced from the Ministry of Finance. I have over 100 letters confirming my statement.”
It was further submitted that Pakistan had not paid a single rupee to India in the past 75 years and that it is the duty of the Indian Government to recover the said amount (debt) from Pakistan.
Sehgal said that the money belongs to the people of India and that Justice shall prevail. He alleged that Pakistan used the money given by India to attack Kashmir.
Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma representing the Centre informed the Court that issue was a matter of Government Policy and hence, there was no need to issue a Writ of Mandamus.
The Court remarked that there is no need to issue any directions in the instant Case as the Government is cognizant of the issue.
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