New Delhi, Feb 15 The Delhi High Court has said that parole is a privilege, not a right, as it dismissed the plea of a realtor, Rakesh Kumar of Tirupati Associates, seeking an extension of his parole for six months.
Kumar, facing a staggering 182-year sentence for duping homebuyers, had been released on parole in 2019, but repeatedly failed to comply with the legal proceedings and settle the claims.
Justice Anoop Kumar Mendiratta noted that parole cannot be endlessly extended, especially when efforts to settle cases are not diligently pursued within the framework of the Delhi Prison Rules, 2018.
The court firmly said that the automatic extension of parole via writ petitions, spanning over four years in this case, cannot become a routine practice.
Kumar's counsel argued that he intended to settle the claims with funds from compensation for land acquired by the Ghaziabad Development Authority. However, the court maintained that parole extensions must be granted only in exceptional circumstances, and not as a matter of routine.
The realtor's predicament stemmed from a 1998 case where 344 complaints were lodged against his firm. Despite directives from the consumer forum, Kumar failed to comply, resulting in his sentencing under the Consumer Protection Act.
His sentence includes one year of imprisonment for 20 cases and six months for 324 others, with consecutive terms.
The court said that its jurisdiction is limited to matters of parole extension, not judging the merits of the consumer forum's orders.
Therefore, Kumar's plea for further parole extension was dismissed, citing the principle that parole is a privilege subject to stringent rules, and not a right to be extended routinely.
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