Madras High Court recalls judgement passed by its former CJ, says it had been delivered without serving notice on respondent

The judges said once the Court Registry has conceded that notice was not served on a respondent in the case, the judgement has to be necessarily recalled in its entirety; the case relates to the fixing of seniority of sub inspectors (technical) in the police department

The Madras High Court has recalled a judgement passed by the first Division Bench led by its former Chief Justice A.P. Sahi on December 5, 2019 in a case related to fixing the seniority of Sub Inspectors (Technical) in the police department. The writ appeal verdict has been recalled now, on the ground that notice was not served on one of the affected individuals.

A Bench of Justices R. Subramanian and Govindarajan Thilakavadi recalled the judgement in its entirety after the High Court Registry filed a report conceding the contention of advocate M. Radhakrishnan that his client B. Vivekanandan was not served with the notice, and was not heard before delivering judgement on the appeal filed by another individual.

“Once it is conceded that notice was not served on one of the respondents, the order which reverses the order of the writ court has to be necessarily recalled,” the Bench led by Justice Subramanian wrote, while allowing a review petition moved by Mr. Vivekanandan in 2020.

The judges also held that the verdict could not be recalled with respect to the review petitioner alone. “Since it is a matter concerning seniority of a bunch of persons, who were appointed as a Sub-Inspector (Technical) in the police force in the same recruitment, recalling the order in respect of one person alone would not be a correct resolution,” the Bench said and ordered that the entire judgement would stand recalled.

A writ appeal being an appeal filed under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent, the proviso to Order 9 Rule 13 of the Code off the Civil Procedure would apply to it. The proviso envisages such a situation and empowers the court to recall the entire decree, the Bench said and invoked the provision of law to allow the review petition.

Mr. Radhakrishnan brought it to the notice of the court that the dispute related to the fixation of seniority, was to do with Sub Inspectors (Technical) who were recruited in 2001. The recruits had to serve in the telecommunication branch of the police department.

One of them, P.K. Murugan filed a writ petition in the High Court in 2013 questioning their 2007 seniority list. The petitioner argued that the seniority of the Sub Inspectors (Technical) could not be assessed by testing only their general knowledge and not their technical expertise. Justice V. Parthiban accepted the argument and allowed the writ petition in 2018 with a direction to the police department to recast the seniority list.