A weekly round-up of important cases from Madras High Court and its subordinate courts.Citations: 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 99 To 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 107NOMINAL INDEXD.S. Radhika v. The State Represented By Secretary to Government & Ors., 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 99P. Kannan v. The Commissioner of Municipal Administration & Ors., D. Sekar v. The Assistant Director of Survey and Land...
A weekly round-up of important cases from Madras High Court and its subordinate courts.
Citations: 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 99 To 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 107
NOMINAL INDEX
D.S. Radhika v. The State Represented By Secretary to Government & Ors., 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 99
P. Kannan v. The Commissioner of Municipal Administration & Ors., D. Sekar v. The Assistant Director of Survey and Land Records, Kancheepuram, 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 100
M.A.M Raja v. The Special Personal Assistant to Minister for Law & Ors., 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 101
Rahul Surana v. The Serious Fraud Investigation Office & Ors., 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 102
M. Selvaraj v. Arulmigu Arunachaleswarar Thirukkoil, 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 103
O. Panneerselvam v. P. Milany & Ors., 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 104
Suo Motu W.P. No. 12935 of 2021, 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 105
Kiruthika v. The State Represented By Inspector of Police & Anr., 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 106
S.P Muthu Raman v. The Joint Secretary & Anr, 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 107
Case Title: D.S. Radhika v. The State Represented By Secretary to Government & Ors.
Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 99
Madras High Court has criticised the public servants who utilise mobile phones and cameras during office hours unnecessarily and directed the Government authorities to frame regulations in line with the Tamil Nadu Government Servants' Conduct Rules, 1973.
Justice S.M Subramaniam of the Madurai Bench was hearing a plea made by a Superintendent in the Tiruchirapalli Regional Workshop (Health) who wanted a direction to revoke her suspension and quash the order passed by the Director, Tamil Nadu State Health Transport Department.
Since the respondent state authorities made a submission that most of the public servants are using mobile phones and cameras in government offices, the court wondered if the employees are performing their duties and responsibilities as expected of them.
"...If such indiscipline and misconduct are allowed to be continued, no doubt, they are committing the greatest sin to the public by getting tax payers' money as huge salary. Therefore, the Government is duty-bound to ensure that the public servants are not wandering with mobile phones inside the office during office hours and it is to be regulated in accordance with the Tamil Nadu Government Servants' Conduct Rules, 1973", the court underscored in the order.
Case Title: P. Kannan v. The Commissioner of Municipal Administration & Ors., D. Sekar v. The Assistant Director of Survey and Land Records, Kancheepuram
Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 100
Madras High Court has held that Supreme Court has not laid down any absolute proposition of law that suspension of an employee cannot continue beyond three months in the absence of serving the charge sheet within that time, or if the charge-sheet is served without reasoned order of extension.
The full bench of Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari, Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy and Justice V. Bharathidasan concluded that the apex court case relied on by the suspended employee, Ajay Kumar Choudhary v. Union of India (2015), would not apply and the order of suspension should be analysed based on the facts of each case, rules applicable and the gravity of charges etc.
3. Visible Collusion With Investigating Officer': Madras High Court Quashes Appointment Of Government Pleader Accused Of Giving Death Threats
Case Title: M.A.M Raja v. The Special Personal Assistant to Minister for Law & Ors.
Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 101
Concluding that there has been visible collusion between the investigating officer and an advocate who was accused in a criminal case, Madras High Court has set aside the appointment of the latter as a Government Pleader for a District Munsif Court in Periyakulam.
Justice S.M Subramaniam observed that constitutional courts have time and again repeated that public posts are to be filled up only with women and men of integrity and honesty. Therefore, the single judge bench expressed its strong disapproval about the conduct of the investigating officer and the respondent government pleader.
"To cover up the misdeeds, the Police has conducted a corrupt investigation and deleted the name of the sixth respondent from the charge sheet without assigning any reason", the court noted.
4. 'Not A Flight Risk, No Concrete Evidence For Coercive Action': Madras High Court Quashes Look Out Circular Against Rahul Surana
Case Title: Rahul Surana v. The Serious Fraud Investigation Office & Ors.
Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 102
Madras High Court has quashed a Look Out Circular (LOC) issued against Rahul Surana, son of the Managing Director of Surana Industries Limited.
Dr Justice Anita Sumanth opined that the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) on whose approval the Bureau of Immigration issued a LOC in December 2020 couldn't satisfy the settled parameters for issuing the same, let alone its extension.
Relying on Karthi P Chidambaram v. Bureau of Immigration (2018), the court observed that the respondent authorities have not placed any material justifying the extension of the Look Out Notice. The investigating agency only mentions prima facie materials and no concrete evidence has been placed to take coercive action in the nature of a Look Out Circular according to the court. The court also pointed out that there are no proceedings against Rahul Surana so as to implicate him in a criminal court or any other fora. Therefore, the court noted in the order as below:
"No material is placed before the Court in support of the bald assertion that the petitioner is a flight risk and as a consequence, there is no tangible material available, admittedly, to deny the petitioner of his Fundamental Right."
The court also referred to the submissions made by CBI that there are no ongoing investigations against him. The single-judge bench also took note of the fact that the petitioner has not evaded any summons demanding his appearance till date.
Case Title: M. Selvaraj v. Arulmigu Arunachaleswarar Thirukkoil
Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 103
Madras High Court has reiterated that it is open to the temples to avail the common law remedy by filing a regular suit or invoking Section 78 of the HR & CE Act for the eviction of a tenant.
The single bench of Justice N. Anand Venkatesh observed that the substantial question of law is no longer res integra in light of the judgment in A.N. Kumar v. Arulmighu Arunachaleswarar Devasthanam Thiruvannamalai & Ors. (2011). In the said case law, it was clarified that the bar under Section 108 of the HR & CE Act for instituting civil suits will not apply for eviction of the lessee without resorting to Section 78 of the Act.
Case Title: O. Panneerselvam v. P. Milany & Ors.
Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 104
Madras High Court has rejected an election petition filed for declaring the election of O. Panneerselvam from Bodinayakanur Legislative Assembly constituency as null and void. An application was filed by Panneerselvam before Madras High Court against the election petition filed by P. Milany, a voter in the constituency.
The election petition had alleged that the AIADMK Candidate and the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu had suppressed material facts and failed to disclose the assets and liabilities of his wife, P. Vijayalakshmi, at the time of filing the nomination papers. On these grounds, the petitioner submitted that there has been non-compliance of the provisions of Sections 33 and 33A of the Representation of People Act, 1951 (hereinafter the 'Act') r/w Rule 4A of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961. It was also added that the election of the former CM must be cancelled since the affidavit furnished in Form 26 did not contain the full particulars that must have been there.
7. Madras High Court Issues Directions In Suo Motu Petition Regarding Motor Accident Fund Misappropriation
Case Title: Suo Motu W.P. No. 12935 of 2021
Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 105
While pronouncing orders in a Suo Motu writ petition, the Madras High Court bench of Justice P.N Prakash and Justice Abdul Quddhose made a series of directions to be followed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunals (MACT) in the state. The court also made suggestions to the Chief Justice and requests to the portfolio judges to issue appropriate directions to put in motion these suggestions.
The petition was for directing the respondents - Registrar General, Additional Registrar (Inspection) and State Bank of India to audit the motor accident cases funds in all districts, lodge criminal complaints against recalcitrant officials and monitor the investigation in the matters.
From the inputs received, the court was satisfied that practitioners in the MCOP jurisprudence operate in delineated specific turfs and would not brook encroachment by anyone.
It was also found that the practitioners were not alone in this misadventure and were assisted by court staff and sometimes even judicial officers.
"MCOP jurisprudence is a gold mine as well a mine field and attempts to clean the Augean stables earlier by various Benches of this Court had not yielded the desired results", the court observed.
8. Notice To Accused Not Necessary For Freezing Bank Account Under Section 102 CrPC: Madras High Court
Case Title: Kiruthika v. The State Represented By Inspector of Police & Anr.
Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 106
The Madras High Court has dismissed a plea made by the wife of controversial PUBG gamer Madan seeking the defreezing of her bank account at Axis Bank Limited.
Justice M. Nirmal Kumar observed that there are far-ranging allegations against both the accused, including misappropriation of funds collected in the name of Covid Relief and making revenue from the live streaming of PUBG gaming videos with obscene commentary and filthy language against women and teenage subscribers.
The court noted that the bank had acknowledged the freezing of the account of the accused to the police by a letter on 15th June, 2021. It was produced and submitted to the magistrate when Kiruthika was remanded on 16th June.
The Madras High Court bench of Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy were hearing a petition for directing the Joint Secretary of Department of Personnel and Training and the Secretary of Department of Post to pass appropriate orders giving effect to the recommendations made by the Central Information Commission in 2013.
One of the recommendations made by the commission was to affix postal stamps on the RTI applications in the place of Indian Postal Order or Demand Draft.
The court however found no merits in the petition and dismissed the same. The court stated that the Commission has made only recommendations that cannot by any stretch be taken as a statute so as to give effect. It also stated that only after certain modifications are made in the statutory provisions that the recommendations can be challenged.
The court was also unsatisfied with the fact that the petitioner chose to sleep on these recommendations for almost nine years and has only now filed a petition. The petition is also silent regarding the reason for the delay. The court also highlighted the fact that the petitioner had not tried to find out as to what action was taken by the appropriate authority with regard to these recommendations.
Other Developments
10. Madras High Court Reserves Orders on Encroachment in Bethel Nagar
Case Title: I.H Sekar vs. MR P. Ponniah, IAS & Ors
The Madras High Court has reserved orders on matter involving encroachments in Bethel Nagar at Injambakkam.
The bench of Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy were hearing a contempt of court petition filed by one I.H Sekar, Managing Trustee of 'The Nature Trust'. The contempt petition was filed against the non-compliance of orders passed by the court in a previous writ filed by this petitioner.
The writ petition was filed seeing direction to remove the encroachments made in the marsh lands and canal puramboke area complying with the orders of the Supreme Court in Hirch Lal Tiwari v. Kamala Devi and Ors and in accordance with Tamil Nadu Land Encroachment Act, 1905 and direct to retrieve these lands.
This writ petition was disposed off with directions to confirm the validity and authenticity of the alteration and in case the alteration is unauthorised, to take action against the defaulting officers. It was also directed that since the eviction of unauthorised occupants is a periodic exercise, a fresh exercise may be undertaken after giving notice to all concerned to clear the land.
11. Madras High Court Recalls Order Directing Constitution Of Press Council Of Tamil Nadu
Case Title: S.Sekaran v. The State Of Tamil Nadu & Ors., S. Sekaran v. The Director General Of Police & Ors.
The Madras High Court on Wednesday recalled its previous order directing the state to set up the Press Council of Tamil Nadu, which would act as a State-level media regulatory body.
The order to constitute the Council was passed by the predecessor division bench of Justice N.Kirubakaran and Justice P.Velmurugan last year in a bid to protect the interests of journalists and clamp down on fake journalists, paid news and journalists who are indulging in illegal, unethical practices.
Expressing reservation on the Court's power to issue such directions in the absence of a statutory provision, the bench of Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy recalled the entire judgment, stating that the direction was unconnected to the writ petition.
The writ in the nature of public interest litigation was filed by journalist S. Sekaran, seeking proper investigation in the idol theft case.
Case Title: S.P Chockalingam v. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests & Ors. & Connected Matters.
The Madras High Court has reserved orders in the matter pertaining to the night traffic ban in Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve.
Earlier, the bench comprising of Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy had directed the Additional Advocate General J. Ravindran to file an affidavit detailing the alternative routes that can be utilised for movement of traffic and details about whether the electricity supply in the area would allow the installation of CCTV cameras every 5 kms.
The court considered the Status Report Filed by the 4th respondent, District Collector. In the Status report, the respondent discussed the suggestions put forward by the petitioners in the matter. The petitioners had suggested that emergency vehicles like ambulances, fire engines etc may be allowed without restraint even during nighttime. It was also suggested to permit the local persons to use the highway within the tiger reserve and to construct tunnels or overpasses for tackling the issue of animal killing.
The court while considering the status report filed by the respondent suggested imposition of restrictions even during the day. The court expressed serious concern over protection of peace in the area. It was suggested that restrictions could be imposed for movement of commercial vehicles even during the day. It was also suggested that the vehicles may use the alternative routes.
13. Wakf Board Meddling In Administration Of Nagore Dargah': Ad Hoc Board Of Administrators Files Affidavit Before Madras HC
Case Title: The Adhoc Board of Administrators, Nagore Dargah Interim Adhoc Administrators v. Muhalli Muthavalli & Anr.
Nagore Dargah's Ad-Hoc Board of Administrators has filed an affidavit before the Madras High Court stating that they have done everything in the best interests of the Dargah and the Tamil Nadu State Wakf Board has been meddling in the day to day administration of dargah from June 2018.
"...the counsel for the Tamil Nadu Wakf Board had claimed to represent us though we did not authorize him and he had also stated as if we are functioning under the Tamil Nadu Wakf Board. We were not put on notice of the case. We came to know of the order only after we received a copy from the Tamil Nadu Wakf Board. We informed the Wakf Board that, the Wakf Board cannot interfere in our day-to-day administration", the affidavit states in reference to the writ appeal the board filed that invited the court's disapproval.
Case Title: Minor & Anr v. K Vijay
A 3-Judge Bench of the Madras High Court has referred to a larger bench, the question pertaining to High Court's jurisdiction on original side to make decisions on child custody and guardianship cases, owing to the advent of the Family Courts Act, 1984.
The bench of Justices A.A. Nakkiran, P.N Prakash and M. Sundar was constituted by the Chief Justice after Justice V. Parthiban opined that the matter must be adjudicated by constituting a larger bench.
The three-judge has now referred the issue to a larger bench since the Mary Thomas Judgment that approves simultaneous jurisdiction of High Court and Family Courts for adjudicating upon chld custody cases was rendered by a three-judge bench of the High Court in 1989.
That full bench was of co-equal strength as well as a co-ordinate bench of the current bench. In these circumstances, the current three-judge bench opined that the reference questions can be answered only after consideration by a larger bench.
Case Title: J.Jayakrishnan & Anr v. Bayview Projects Limited Liability Partnership Represented by its Director Boney Surinder Kapoor
Madras High Court has issued notice to the makers of Tamil film 'Valimai', starring Ajith, after the Producer of a 2016 Movie called 'Metro' alleged that the former is a substantial replica of the latter.
The bench of Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy has posted the matter on 17th March, 2022 for further hearing.
The plea before Madras High Court by J.Jayakrishnan and his production company- E5 Entertainments Private Limited, accused the makers of the big-budget film of ripping off the storyline of 'Metro' substantially. According to Jayakrishnan, 'base storyline, narration, sequential arrangement of scenes, emotional ingredients and character sketches of all important characters' of 'Valimai' have been substantially copied from his 2016 hit film 'Metro'.
Case Title: Leena Manimekalai v. Susi Ganesan
While declining a plea made by the poet/ filmmaker Leena Manimekalai for transfer of the criminal defamation case pending against her on the file of Saidapet IXth Metropolitan Magistrate, Chennai Sessions Court also observed that the allegations against the court's presiding officer are 'unfounded' and 'invented for the purpose of transfer petition'.
Taking note of the petitioner's argument, the court noted in the order as below:
"....It has been observed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court that a mere allegation that there is apprehension that justice will not be done in a given case, does not survive. The court has further to see whether the apprehension is reasonable or not. The apprehension must not only be entertained but must appear to the court to be a reasonable apprehension and it squarely applies to the case on hand since the allegations made against the presiding officer are unfounded and invented for the purpose of transfer petition...", stating the same, the Sessions Court concluded that it hasn't found any merits in the contentions raised by Manimekalai and refused to transfer the case to another competent court.
Case Title: B. Ramkumar Adityan and anr v. All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
The bench of Justice P Velmurugan has granted four weeks' time to All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) party to file their counter in an application moved by one B. Ramkumar Adityan seeking leave of the court to sue the party and some of its members. The plea seeks to challenge the intra party elections held in 2021 and certain resolutions passed by the General Council in 2017 and Executive Committee in 2021.
In his plaint, Mr. Ramkumar has challenged Resolution No. 7, 10, 11 and 12 passed by the General Council dated 12.09.2017 whereby amendments were made to the original constitution/rules and regulations of the party and subsequent to which the 2nd, 3rd, 7th and 8th Defendants assumed their Office.
Case Title: Preethika C. v. State of Tamil Nadu and other connected cases
While reserving orders in a plea challenging 7.5 percent reservation of seats in Medical Colleges for government school students, the bench comprising Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy, remarked that nowadays children are not going to schools and are directly going to coaching classes.
"This is the trend now. Even when students have to go for competitions, students would not attend classes and instead attend coaching classes. Even for competitive exams like judicial exams, children are not attending LLB classes and are going straight for coaching."
The court questioned the need for coaching if the schools can provide education in the standard that does not require any other coaching.
The court was hearing in detail a plea challenging the constitutionality of the Tamil Nadu Admission to Undergraduate Courses in Medicine, Dentistry, Indian Medicine and Homeopathy on a preferential basis to students of Government Schools Act, 2020 (Act No. 34 of 2020) which grants horizontal reservation of 7.5 per cent seats in medical colleges for students passing out of government schools in the State.
Case Title: Pushpam Reality v. State Tax Officer
The Madras High Court comprising Justice C. Saravanan has held that the Goods and Service Tax (GST) department can continue service of the physical copy of the notice through registered post, speed post, or courier with acknowledgement to the assessee at their last known place of business or residence and upload the notice on the web portal. Once all technical problems are resolved, the practice of sending physical copies may be dispensed with.