A division bench, comprising acting Chief Justice Devinder Gupta and Justice K S Gupta, said, ``Any finding by the court naturally affects directly the interest of former navy chief.''

Rejecting the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by retired Wing Commander H M Sethi, the bench said, ``Entertaining a petition at the behest of a third person has been depreciated by Supreme Court in Krishna Swami's case.''

It said that under the settled law and these circumstances, it would be highly ``undesirable'' to entertain the petition when Bhagwat had not come forward for ``redressal of his grievances, if any''.

The petition filed by Sethi had alleged that the ``unceremonious'' dismissal of Bhagwat would have ``great'' effect on the morale of the defence forces.

Thecourt accepted the contention of Attorney General Soli Sorabjee that there could not be any ``proxy litigation'' in such cases when the affected party had chosen not to move the court.

Sorabjee contended that Bhagwat had ``consciously and deliberately chosen not to come to the court and therefore no third party can seek relief for him.''

The court said it was not desirable to look into the records which were kept ready by the Government for its perusal.

A similar PIL filed by a former army officer was dismissed by Bombay High Court in January on the grounds of locus standi and maintainability.

The petitioner had contended that the Government had sacked Bhagwat without giving him an opportunity to explain his position. If he had become a ``threat'' to the nation, as was ``publicly'' claimed by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Defence Minister George Fernandes, he should have been subjected to a ``court martial'' under the Navy Act, Sethi had said.

However, Sorabjee had said that thepurpose of a PIL was only to help a particular class of people who were not aware of their rights and did not have access to the resources.

``If a person is not ready to accept help from outside, it cannot be thrust upon him,'' he argued.

Sorabjee had contended that if the courts started entertaining petitions in such cases, it would open a ``Pandora's box'' and tomorrow, the removal of a Governor, a Chief Minister or any other officer would be questioned in the court by anyone.

He claimed that the decision to dismiss Bhagwat was taken after extensive deliberations by the Cabinet Committee on Defence which included the Prime Minister, Home Minister, Defence Minister and Finance Minister.