The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court Bar Association (MMBA) has succeeded in restoring the right of the Bench to hear all kinds of public interest litigation (PIL) petitions including those that concern issues related to the entire State, and not just the 13 districts under its territorial jurisdiction.
The First Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjay V. Gangapurwala and Justice R. Hemalatha allowed a revision petition filed by MMBA, and recalled a particular paragraph alone from a judicial order passed by the previous first Bench during former Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee’s tenure on March 4, 2021.
The Division Bench led by Chief Justice Gangapurwala agreed with senior counsel M. Ajmal Khan, representing MMBA, that it would not be appropriate to say that PILs relating to pan-State matters must be heard only at the principal seat of the High Court in Chennai and not at its Madurai Bench.
