Ministers cannot invoke writ jurisdiction: Kerala HC
- The court made this observation while dismissing a plea by Thomas Chandy, who resigned as state transport minister
- Chandy, accused of land encroachment for his luxury resort, had challenged a report by the Alappuzha district collector on the alleged encroachments
FollowThe Kerala High Court has held that a minister, so long as he continues in the Cabinet, cannot invoke the writ jurisdiction to prevent the state and its officers from discharging executive functions pursuant to an order passed by another minister in the cabinet.
The court made this observation while dismissing a plea by Thomas Chandy, who resigned as state transport minister on November 15.
The resignation came in the wake of the division bench of Justice PN Raveendran and Justice Devan Ramachandran making stinging observations and rapping him for filing a plea against his own government on Tuesday.
Chandy, accused of land encroachment for his luxury resort, had challenged a report by the Alappuzha district collector on the alleged encroachments.
"In our considered opinion, the petitioner, who is a minister in the Council of Ministers of the state of Kerala, cannot, so long as he continues to be a minister, invoke the writ jurisdiction of this court to prevent the state of Kerala and its officers from discharging executive functions pursuant to an order passed by yet another minister in the council of ministers and thereby prevent action being taken," the court said.
(With agency inputs)
