New Delhi, March 17 (IANS) The Delhi High Court has rejected a petition questioning the Indian citizenship of Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Chamling.

Justice S. Muralidhar said: "This court finds substance in the contention of Sikkim chief minister that the complaint, dated June 9, 2008, was made by the petitioner for gaining political mileage."

"For a person active in politics in Sikkim, and presumably a public figure, the petitioner was expected to act responsibly in activating the legal processes. The documents forming the basis of the petitioner's complaint questioning the Indian citizenship of Chamling were inherently unreliable," ruled the court in an order delivered Tuesday.

"It resulted in an avoidable waste of precious public resources in examining its tenability," said the court.

The court said the writ petition was, on merits, found to be without substance.

The case was filed in June 2008 by president of the Bharatiya Janata Party's Sikkim unit Padam Chettri and party general secretary Padam Sharma.

The petition sought direction to the union home ministry to decide on a complaint made by Sharma June 9, 2008, against Chamling.

The petition claimed that Chamling "voluntarily and wilfully acquired the citizenship of Nepal without renouncing his Indian citizenship and by doing so he has committed a fraud and his Indian citizenship stands terminated".

His Nepalese citizenship was established from a perusal of several documents and certificates issued by the Nepal government authorities, the petitions said.

The petition also sought Chamling's disqualification from the assembly.