IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ___________,
_______________
PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION NO._____ OF 2011
Name age
Address
…..Petitioner
Versus
1. Union of India through Secretary,
Finance, Government of India,
New Delhi
2. Reserve Bank of India,
3. Speak Asia Online Pvt Ltd,
through its director, 10 UBI,
Crescent, #07, 68, Ubi, Techpark,
Singapore – 408564
4. State of _________,
Through its Chief Secretary,
Govt. of _______________, …..Respondents
WRIT PETITION UNDER ARTICLE 226
OF THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA
To,
The Hon’ble Chief Justice
And his companion Ho’ble Judges
Of _____________High Court
________________
The petitioner, named above, most respectively begs to submit
as under:
1. The Petitioner is citizen of India having his address as shown
in the cause title; Respondent No. 1 is identified as any ministry
of the central government, which falls in the definition of ‘the
State’ as defined under Article 12 of the Constitution of India;
Respondent No. 2 is wholly owned by the central government
and established under the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934,
which is an instrumentality of ‘the State’; Respondent No.3 is a
company incorporated under the laws of Republic of Singapore
having its office as shown in the title; Respondent No.4 is any
state government, which falls in the definition of ‘the State’ as
defined under Article 12 of the Constitution of India.
2. The Petitioner is one of the panellists of Respondent No. 3
above named, who participate in the on line surveys conducted
by Respondent No. 3 and earn reward points: he is filing this
Writ Petition on his own behalf and on behalf of 15-lakh
panellists spread all over the country for reasons more
elaborately set out herein under;
3. The Petitioner says that Respondent No. 3 carries on business
in India through a business portal: www.speakasiaonline.com;
The business conducted by Respondent No. 3 is aimed at
creating a community of consumers who can use their collective
bargaining power to get unprecedented price advantages in
goods and services procured through the portal of Respondent
No. 3; For that purpose, Respondent No. 3 is creating a
community of empowered consumers who are termed ‘panellists’
and who earn rewards points by participating in the various
activities of Respondent No. 3, such as filling-out surveys,
submission of product referrals or sales, conducting advertising
based surveys, and participating in self-development training
programs etc. as posted on the Website; panellists earn ‘reward
points’ for participating in the aforementioned activities by
contributing their focused and valuable opinions in the online
surveys conducted by Respondent No. 3, as a part of the market
research business of panel exchanges and other related activities
of Respondent No. 3; Reward points can be redeemed by the
registered panellists to purchase on-line different products and
services, as well as E-Zine subscriptions posted on the Website;
Upon request any unutilized reward points can also be
transferred to his/ her bank account by Respondent No. 3, @ of
the onsite posted fixed INR value;
3. The petitioner states that for the last two and a half months, a
concerted defamation and slander campaign has been launched
by some clearly identifiable business rivals of Respondent No. 3
through the media and other forums, with the sole aim of
destroying its credibility and financial standing; let it be said that
should such underhanded motives be allowed to succeed in any
court of law, the result will be disastrous for the 15-lakh
panellists of Respondent No. 3, including the present Petitioner.
4. The Petitioner states that in fact, certain identifiable television
broadcasting channels are doing a great disservice to the 15-
lakh panellists who are associated with Respondent No. 3; The
Petitioner states that many panellists are unemployed youth,
underemployed persons and those who wish to supplement their
income by associating with the surveys conducted by
Respondent No. 3 for reputed companies; The Petitioner states
that lakhs of persons have earned handsomely from the
association with Respondent No 3 and received full payments on
time until the recent debacle; The Petitioner states it is relevant
to note that not even one or two of the 15-lakh panellists of
Respondent No. 3 have registered any protest anywhere in the
country claiming that they have lost money by associating with
Respondent No. 3; On the contrary, the Petitioner asserts that
Respondent No. 3 has dutifully made every effort to make
payments to its 15-lakh panellists, even within the time period
where the severe constraints were created by the adverse media
publicity;
5. The Petitioner states that the ill motivated and mala fide
allegations made against Respondent No. 3 have had the effect
of virtually crippling its operations; The Petitioner states that
before the motivated campaign began against Respondent No. 3,
there were no problems of any kind whatsoever and all the 15-
lakh panellists were being well looked after; The Petitioner states
that after the adverse publicity by rival interests, the Petitioner
has come to know through media reports that one person in
Mumbai filed a complaint before the EOW in Mumbai; The
Petitioner states that the business rivals of Respondent No. 3
have, through false allegations and misleading information, been
making serious efforts to galvanize different instrumentalities of
the State to take legal action against Respondent No. 3, so as to
stop it from functioning; The Petitioner states that on account of
these efforts and adverse publicity Respondent No. 2 has
specifically put an embargo on remittance of funds into India by
Respondent No.2, which was meant for pay-out distribution
amongst the qualified panellists; The Petitioner states that the
result of this measure has been that panellists like the present
Petitioner cannot be paid the amounts due to them and no
growth of business can take place; The Petitioner states he has
become aware that Respondent No. 3 and other relevant
individuals have filed Writ Petition in the Bombay High Court
challenging the RBI circular (issued through the Chief General
Manager of the Reserve Bank of India dated 23 May 2011)
against Respondent No. 3 and against unjustified freezing of the
accounts of master distributors of Haren Ventures Private
Limited pending Govt. Tax Department investigations; The
Hon’ble Bombay High Court was pleased to direct the
Respondent No. 2 to take into account the representation of
Respondent No.3 and give them opportunity of hearing
(WPL1365-14.7.sxw: 2011); But so far Respondent No. 2 has
not taken any steps in compliance with the order passed by the
High Court of Judicature at Bombay ordinary original civil
jurisdiction;
6. The Petitioner states that that such is the reach and power of
the identifiable business rivals of Respondent No 3 that they
have succeeded not merely in effecting negative, criminally
liable, and unconstitutional responses from the various herein
mentioned other Respondents, but also the principal banker of
Respondent No 3 in Singapore, United Overseas Bank, was
motivated to close its company account in Singapore; The
unfortunate result of these illegal activities was that pending
payments to over 2 lakh panellists in India amounting to over Rs
150 crores (about US $40 million), have been indefinitely
blocked; The Petitioner states that the net result of the freezing
of accounts in India and the closure of the principal account in
Singapore has led to the suspension of the entire business
activity, which is detrimental to the vital interests of the 15 Lakh
panellists in India;
7. The Petitioner states that the as per media reports a PIL has
been filed in Bombay High Court and EOW (Mumbai) has
initiated investigation and an FIR under Section 420 and 406 and
Section 3 of the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes
(Banning) Act, 1978 has been registered; The Petitioner states
that all top executives of Respondent No. 3 have been taken into
custody, bringing the entire operations of Respondent No.3 to a
halt; The Petitioner states that neither Respondent No. 3 nor the
media or the business rivals of Respondent No. 3 will suffer any
loss by cessation of business of Respondent No. 3; The Petitioner
states that the 15-lakh panellists are the sole suffers of loss and
the Petitioner asserts that they have already begun to so suffer;
The Petitioner states in order to protect the interest of 15-lakh
panellists s/he is approaching this Hon’ble Court by way of the
present Petition; The same may be treated as a Public Interest
Litigation;
8. Being aggrieved by the actions of Respondents, the Petitioner
is approaching this Hon’ble Court on the following grounds which
are independent and not contrary to each other:
a) The actions of Respondents Nos. 1 and 2 are illegal, mala
fide, arbitrary and in violation of provisions of both Indian
and International law;
b) The acts of omission and commission of Respondents Nos.
1 and 2 have resulted in grave violations of fundamental
and constitutional rights of the panellists;
c) That the actions of Respondents Nos. 1 and 2 are grossly
infringing of the principles of accepted justice;
d) That the actions of Respondents Nos. 1 and 2 have made a
mockery of the venerated Indian rule of law;
e) That the acts of omission and commission of Respondents
Nos. 1 and 2 has caused serious financial loss to not only
the Petitioner, but also to the 15-lakh similarly placed
panellist community of Indian consumers;
f) That the actions of Respondents Nos. 1 and 2 have
wrongfully maligned, slandered, defamed and destroyed
the business reputation of Respondent No 3, as well as
that of the Petitioner;
g) That Respondents Nos. 1 and 2 may or may not be
unwittingly acting as agents of the identifiable business
rivals of Respondent No 3;
h) That the actions of omission and commission of
Respondents Nos. 1 and 2 will lead to irreparable loss and
injury not only to the Petitioner, but also to the 15-lakh
similarly placed panellists;
9. The Petitioner submits that s/he is entitled to all the ad-
interim, interim and final reliefs claimed herein; The Petitioner
submits that unless and until the ad-interim and interim reliefs
are granted, grave and irreparable loss and injury will be caused
to the Petitioner, which cannot be adequately compensated; On
the other hand, immediate grant of the said reliefs will not cause
any such corresponding harm, loss and injury to any of the other
Respondents; The balance of convenience is, therefore, entirely
in favor of Petitioner;
10. The offices of Respondents No.1, 2 and 4 is in _______. The
entire cause of action for filing the Petition has been raised
in_______. This Hon’ble Court, therefore, has jurisdiction to
entertain, try and dispose of this Petition;
11. There is no alternative and equally efficacious remedy
available to the Petitioner; The Petitioner, therefore, submits
that if a writ as prayed for herein is granted then it will afford
him complete and effective relief;
12. The Petitioner has not filed any other Petition / Proceeding
relating to the subject matter of the present Petition in the
Supreme Court of India or any other court in India;
13. The Petitioner has paid fixed Court fees of Rs. ____/- on the
Petition;
14. The Petitioner will rely on the attached documents, a list
whereof is annexed hereto;
PRAYERS
The Petitioner, therefore, prays that:
(a) This Hon’ble Court be pleased to issue a writ/of certiorari,
a writ in the nature of certiorari and/or any other
appropriate order or direction calling for the records of the
case and after examining the same to further quash and/or
set aside the impugned action of Respondents No.1 and 2;
(b) This Hon’ble Court be pleased to issue a writ of
mandamus, a writ in the nature of mandamus and/or any
other appropriate writ and/or direction to Respondents
Nos. 1 and 2 to complete enquiry into the affairs of
Respondent No. 3 in the required time bound manner as
fixed by this Hon’ble Court;
(c) This Hon’ble Court be pleased to issue a writ of
mandamus, a writ in the nature of mandamus and/or any
other appropriate writ and/or direction to Respondents
Nos. 1 and 2 that during any relevant investigation the
officials of Respondent No.3 may be allowed to continue
their operations under the supervision of this Hon’ble
Court;
(d) Pending the hearing and final disposal of this Petition, this
Hon'ble Court be pleased to issue a temporary Order and
injunction thereby direct Respondent No. 1 to issue
directions to Respondent No. 2 to allow Respondent No. 3
to remit and utilize the banking channels for all purposes
of making due payment to the registered panellists;
(f) ad-interim reliefs in terms of prayer clause (c) and (d)
above be granted;
(g) Cost of and incidental to this Petition be provided for;
and
(h) Such further and other reliefs as the nature and
circumstances of the case may require be passed.
Petitioner
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