CHENNAI: A larger bench of the Madras High Court has ruled that the Church of South India (CSI) Synod and its trust are legally answerable to writ jurisdiction under Article 226 as it is performing public duty by way of running educational institutions, some of them with government’s financial assistance, and so courts can interfere with its activities.
The ruling was given by a bench comprising justices R Subramanian, PT Asha and N Senthil Kumar on a reference made to decide on the matter following a petition filed by D Bright Joseph against the CSI Synod and the CSI Trust Association regarding fair polls to organisation.
The bench said, “It is amply evident that the respondent (CSI) is running various schools, colleges and hospitals. The respondent is definitely discharging the public function and if any action taken by them is detrimental to the discharge of this duty, a writ petition would be maintainable.”
Advocate S Thangasivam, appearing for the petitioners, sought the court to ensure fair polls to the CSI Synod by appointing a retired judge to oversee the process and submitted that Synod and CSITA are nominating persons facing criminal cases to various posts.
The bench in its order said since the respondents are running 2,300 schools, 150 colleges and 104 hospitals, the public duty they discharge falls within the contours of Article 21 and 21A.
“Since the institutions run by respondents are bound by statutory regulations of varying degrees, they are amenable to the writ jurisdiction.”
However, the court made it clear that the functions of the churches maintained by the respondents are outside the scope of judicial review under Article 226 of the Constitution.