Rajkumar A.J v. A.Iyyathurai

O R D E R (Order of the Court was made by R.MAHADEVAN, J.) Heard Mr.T.Pon Ramkumar, learned counsel for the petitioner; Mr.J.Ashok, learned Additional Government Pleader for the respondents 1 to 5; Mr.B.Saravanan, learned counsel for the respondents 1 to 5 and Mr.R.Baskaran, learned counsel for the sixth respondent.

¶2Earlier, this Court, vide order dated 30.07.2021, has passed an order of interim injunction restraining the Government servants who are all working under the sixth respondent – the Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church management from participating in any of the election or religious activities of the sixth respondent, pending disposal of this writ petition.

¶3Today, after hearing the submissions of the learned counsels for the parties at length, as an interim arrangement, we modify the earlier interim order to the extent that all the eligible members of the sixth respondent may only cast their respective votes in the ensuing election of the sixth respondent.

¶4List the matter after three weeks.'

¶5We find that the modified interim order has been operating for nearly one year now.

¶6In the above circumstances, captioned WMPs have been listed and from the case file, we find that captioned WMPs have been filed in September / October of 2022 and the dates of filing of the captioned four WMPs are as follows:

(i) WMP(MD)No.20677 of 2023 filed on 18.10.2022;

(ii) WMP(MD)No.20648 of 2023 filed on 07.09.2022;

(iii) WMP(MD)No.20671 of 2023 filed on 17.10.2022;

(iv) WMP(MD)No.20678 of 2023 filed on 17.10.2022;

¶7It is also to be noted that petitioners in the vacate stay petitions were impleaded on 20.12.2022 itself.

¶8The trigger for the listing appears to be notification of election by TELC but that was also notified on 09.09.2023 itself and this Court is informed that this is election for Pastoral Council Committee. This Court is informed that the election is held in a phased manner, one phase has already been held on 08.10.2023 and another phase is scheduled to be held day after tomorrow i.e., 15.10.2023.

¶9In the light of the narrative thus far, we find that it would only be appropriate to record the submission of learned counsel for 6th respondent Mr.C.Lawrence [to be noted 6th respondent TELC] that the elections are subject to the outcome of the writ petition.

¶10It is open to TELC to consider renotifying the remaining phases of election, if so desired and so advised but we refrain from expressing any opinion on this.

¶11Captioned WMPs are disposed of as closed albeit preserving the rights of the petitioners to come out with similar prayer if there are any / further developments warranting a prayer for vacating interim orders.

sd/-

13/10/2023

/ TRUE COPY /

/10/2023

Sub-Assistant Registrar (C.S. )

Madurai Bench of Madras High Court,

Madurai - 625 023. BALA TO 1 THE SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT, GOVERNMENT OF TAMILNADU (SCHOOL EDUCATION AND ELEMENTARY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT) FORT ST.GEORGE, CHENNAI-600 009 2 THE SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT, GOVERNMENT OF TAMILNADU (HIGHER EDUCATION DEPARTMENT), FORT ST.GEORGE, CHENNAI-600 009 3 THE DIRECTOR OF COLLEGE EDUCATION, E.V.K.SAMPATH BUILDING, 9TH FLOOR, CHENNAI-6 4 THE DIRECTOR OF SCHOOL EDUCATION, COLLEGE ROAD, CHENNAI-6 5 THE DIRECTOR OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION, COLLEGE ROAD, CHENNAI-6 ORDER IN WMP(MD) Nos.20677, 20648, 20671 and 20678 of 2023 IN Date :13/10/2023 SS/DD/SAR- /19/10/2023/14P/6C Madurai Bench of Madras High Court is issuing certified copies in this format from 17/07/2023

BEFORE THE MADURAI BENCH OF MADRAS HIGH COURT ( Special Original Jurisdiction ) Friday, the Thirteenth day of October Two Thousand and Twenty Three PRESENT The Hon`ble Mr.Justice M.SUNDAR and The Hon`ble Mr.Justice R. SAKTHIVEL WMP(MD) Nos.20677, 20648, 20671 and 20678 of 2023 IN 1 RAJKUMAR A.J 2 J.SAMU SOLOMON 3 MATHEW JOEL.J 4 S.RANJITH PRABU 5 M.PRAVIN PAULSON THILAGAR 6 T.JOHN RAJESH 7 E.ESRAVEL 8 R.F.JOEL RAJAKUMAR 9 A.JAWAHAR SATHIYA SAKSHI ... PETITIONERS/PROPOSED RESPONDENTS IN WMP(MD). 20677/ 2023 WP(MD)No.229eofe2021 THEoTAMILoEVANGELICALoLUTHERANoCHURCHo(TELC),o REP.oBYoITSoSECRETARYoA.MEHARoANTONY, HAVINGoOFFICEoAToPOSToBOXoNO.86,oTELC, CENTRALoOFFICE, TRANQUEBARoHOUSE, MELAPUTHUR, TIRUCHIRAPPALLIo-I. oooooooo...oIMPLEADINGoPETITIONER/ thPROPOSEDo7 oRESPONDENT INoWMP(MD).o20648/o2023o WILLIAMo.Mo oooooooo...oPETITIONER/PROPOSEDoRESPONDENT INoWMP(MD).o20671/o2023o 1.oJAGARAJoSOLOMAN.Ao 2.oRUBANoVASANTHAoKUMAR.Moo 3.oMOSESoVIJAYARAJ.Jooo 4.oTITUSoISREAL.Soo 5.oCHARLESoPRABHAKARAN.Doo ...oPETITIONERS/PROPOSEDoRESPONDENTSo7oTOo12 o INoWMP(MD).o20678/o2023 oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Vs st1oA.IYYATHURAIoo ...o1 oRESPONDENT/WRIToPETITIONER inoALLoTHEoPETITIONS 2oTHEoGOVERNMENToOFoTAMILNADUoooooooo REP.oBYoITSoSECRETARYoTOoGOVERNMENT (SCHOOLoEDUCATIONoANDoELEMENTARYoEDUCATIONoDEPARTMENT)o FORToST.GEORGEoCHENNAI-600o009 3oTHEoGOVERNMENToOFoTAMILNADUoooooooo REP.oBYoITSoSECRETARYoTOoGOVERNMENT (HIGHERoEDUCATIONoDEPARTMENT),o FORToST.GEORGEo CHENNAI-600o009 4 THE DIRECTOR OF COLLEGE EDUCATION, E.V.K.SAMPATH BUILDING 9TH FLOOR CHENNAI-6 5 THE DIRECTOR OF SCHOOL EDUCATION, COLLEGE ROAD, CHENNAI-6 6 THE DIRECTOR OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION, COLLEGE ROAD, CHENNAI-6 7 THE TAMIL EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH, REP. BY ITS THE BISHOP TRANQUEBAR HOUSE TRICHIRAPALLI-8 TRICHY DISTRICT. ... RESPONDENT 2 to 7/RESPONDENT 1 TO 7 in WMP(MD)No.20677, 20648 & 20671 of 2023 ... RESPONDENTS/RESPONDENTS 1 TO 6 in WMP(MD)No.20678 of 2023 8 THE TAMIL EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH (TELC), REP. BY ITS SECRETARY A.MEHAR ANTONY, HAVING OFFICE AT POST BOX NO.86, TELC, CENTRAL OFFICE, TRANQUEBAR HOUSE, MELAPUTHUR, TIRUCHIRAPPALLI – 1. ... PROPOSED RESPONDENT in WMP(MD)No.20677 of 2023 Writ Miscellaneous Petition filed praying that in the circumstances stated therein and in the affidavit filed therewith the High Court may be pleased to vacate the interim order granted by this Honble Court in W.P.(MD) No.229 of 2021 and WMP(MD).No. 188 of 2021 dated 30.07.2021 and dismiss the writ petition. Prayer in WMP(MD). 20648/ 2023 : To vacate the interim order dated 30.07.2021 granted by this Honble Court in W.M.P.(MD).No. 188 of 2021 in W.P(MD) No. 229 of 2021. Prayer in WMP(MD). 20671/ 2023 : To vacate the interim injunction granted in W.M.P.(MD).No.188 of 2021 in W.P. (MD).No.229 of 2021 on 30.07.2021. Prayer in WMP(MD). 20678/ 2023 : To Vacate the order of Interim Injunction granted on 30.07.2021 in W.M.P. (MD).No.188 of 2021 in W.P.(MD) No. 229 of 2021. in WP(MD) No.229 of 2021: A.IYYATHURAI ... PETITIONER Vs 1 THE GOVERNMENT OF TAMILNADU REP. BY ITS SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT, (SCHOOL EDUCATION AND ELEMENTARY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT) FORT ST.GEORGE, CHENNAI-600 009 2 THE GOVERNMENT OF TAMILNADU REP. BY ITS SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT, (HIGHER EDUCATION DEPARTMENT), FORT ST.GEORGE, CHENNAI-600 009 3 THE DIRECTOR OF COLLEGE EDUCATION, E.V.K.SAMPATH BUILDING, 9TH FLOOR, CHENNAI-6 4 THE DIRECTOR OF SCHOOL EDUCATION, COLLEGE ROAD, CHENNAI-6 5 THE DIRECTOR OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION, COLLEGE ROAD, CHENNAI-6 6 THE TAMIL EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH, REP. BY ITS THE BISHOP TRANQUEBAR HOUSE, TRICHIRAPALLI-8, TRICHY DISTRICT. ... RESPONDENTS WP(MD)No.229eofe2021 7oTHEoTAMILoEVANGELICALoLUTHERANoCHURCHo(TELC),o oooooREP.oBYoITSoSECRETARY, oooooA.MEHARoANTONY,o oooooHAVINGoOFFICEoAToPOSToBOXoNO.86,oTELC,oCENTRALoOFFICE,o oooooTRANQUEBARoHOUSE,oMELAPUTHUR,o oooooTIRUCHIRAPPALLI-1. (R7 o IS o IMPLEADED o VIDE o COURT o ORDER o DATED 20.10.2022 o IN o WMP(MD).16943/2022 o IN o WP(MD). 229/202