Constitution of India – Art.226 – Writ jurisdiction – Exercise of, when alternative remedy available – Writ petition by the appellant seeking for possession of their two flats which were permitted to be temporarily occupied by the police department at their request to meet the requirement of housing police officers in the year 1940 – High Court rejected the petition holding that it was not inclined to exercise jurisdiction u/Art.226 because there was no written order of requisition – Correctness:
Held: High Court should have readily exercised its writ jurisdiction – Constitutional powers vested in High Court or Supreme Court cannot be fettered by any alternative remedy available to the party concerned – Injustice, whenever and wherever it takes place, should be struck down as an anathema to the rule of law and the provisions of the Constitution – High Court was hesitant to exercise its writ jurisdiction as it got confused on the aspect of nature of possession – High Court found the possession to be permissive in nature and thought fit to relegate the appellants to avail alternative remedy of filing a suit – High Court should have kept in mind that the year was 1940 when the country was ruled by Britishers and was fighting hard to seek independence – At that time, department might have persuaded the appellants/predecessors in title to part with the possession of two flats for Police Department – However, it has been 84 years that the Police Department was in occupation and for past eighteen years even rent was not paid – If the appellants are asked to institute a suit would be like adding insult to the injury – Rule of exclusion of writ jurisdiction by availability of an alternative remedy is a rule of discretion and not one of compulsion – There can be many contingencies in which High Court may be justified in exercising its writ jurisdiction inspite of availability of an alternative remedy – Thus, the impugned judgment passed by the High Court set aside – Respondents to handover vacant and peaceful possession of both the flats to the appellants along with the arrears of rent. [Paras 6, 8-12]
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Headnotes prepared by: Nidhi Jain. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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