Date:22/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/22/stories/2008122253830400.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

“University open to hold polls according to law”

K.T.Sangameswaran

CHENNAI: It has been repeatedly held by the Supreme Court that the power under Article 226 is to be exercised to ensure that the statutory regime is followed, and the same is not abrogated, the Madras High Court has said.

The apex court in several cases held that in matters relating to election, the statutory remedy should be followed, a Division Bench comprising the then Chief Justice A.K.Ganguly and Justice K.Chandru said in its common judgment while allowing appeals preferred by the Bharathiar University, Coimbatore and another person. The appeals challenged a single judge’s order allowing a writ petition in which a dispute was raised relating to election of members of the university Syndicate from the Senate constituency.

The Bench said such an election was controlled by the provisions of the Bharathiar University Act. The dispute raised fell within the categories of disputes enumerated under Section 50 of the legislation, namely, whether a person was entitled to be a member of any authority of the university. But the petition had been filed without exhausting the remedy, which was statutorily provided under the Act. It was open to the petitioner to raise a dispute under the said provision before the Vice-Chancellor with a prayer to refer it to the Chancellor for a decision. Without doing the same, the petition had been filed and the impugned judgment had been delivered. Therefore, the specific statutory remedy had not been exhausted in this case, the Bench said.

It was, no doubt, true that the existence of a statutory remedy did not oust the jurisdiction of the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution. Such a remedy merely operated as a restraint on the exercise of discretion by the court in granting remedy under Article 226.

Admittedly, such situations were not available in the present case, the Bench said setting aside the single judge’s judgment. It was now open to the university to take steps for holding elections in accordance with law, the Bench said.