CHENNAI: It is always open to the constitutional court to examine actions of State if they pertain to public law, a division bench of the HC has observed.The bench of justices K K Sasidharan and P Velmurugan made the observation on October 25 last, while allowing a writ appeal from the parents of S Swathi (24), who was murdered at the Nungambakkam station on June 24, 2016, seeking compensation of Rs 3 crore from the Railways.
Originally, Ranganayaki and Santhanagoplan, parents of Swathi, moved the Madras High Court seeking a compensation of Rs 3 crore for the death of their daughter, a techie. The petition was referred to the Registry to ascertain its maintainability. As the Registry held it was not maintainable, a single judge on April 24 last dismissed the petition. Hence, the present appeal from the parents.
The bench said that the Registry by returning the writ petition on the ground of maintainability virtually acted as the court and exercised judicial function. The Registry has no such authority. It is for the court to decide whether the writ petition should be entertained in a matter, in spite of an alternative remedy. It is always open to the court to entertain the writ petition notwithstanding the alternative remedy available to the party, the bench said.
“In the subject case, the action pertains to the public law domain and as such, the writ petition is maintainable before the HC. We are, therefore, of the view that the single Judge was not correct in dismissing the writ petition,” the bench added, set aside the order dated April 24, 2017 of the single judge and directed the Registry to number the writ petition and post it before the single Judge as per roster. The alternative and proper remedy, according the Registry, was to approach the Railway Claims Tribunal. The single Judge also concurred.
Allowing the appeal, the bench observed that the issues raised by the appellants were no longer res integra in view of the string of decisions rendered by the SC invoking public law liability and more particularly, the cases filed against the Railways claiming compensation under public law.