The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : No-judicial review possible of no confidence motion: court

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Wednesday, Jun 20, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

No-judicial review possible of no confidence motion: court

Staff Reporter

It is based on the strength of councillors, says Madurai Bench

MADURAI: No judicial review is possible of a no-confidence motion against a municipal chairman even if councillors passed it for extraneous considerations or for undisclosed reasons, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has ruled.

Justice K. Chandru gave the ruling on a writ petition filed by K. Muniyandi, former chairman of the Theni Allinagaram municipality.

Dismissing the petition, the judge said a no-confidence motion was determined on the basis of the strength of councillors and a majority of them might unseat the chairman for any reason.

“In such matters, no judicial review is permissible except for the court to foresee whether the rules have been followed or not.”

Minutes of the meeting

On the petitioner’s contention that the Regional Director of Municipal Administration ought to have given him a copy of the minutes of the council meeting held on June 6 to answer the charges levelled against him, the judge said the Director could only convene the meeting.

The official could not determine how the meeting should go on. Therefore, seeking details or materials behind the no confidence motion was not the concern of the officer, he said.

“Further, the very concept of the no-confidence motion does not involve any charge or counter charges, and in that meeting, if the petitioner is given an opportunity, he can always express that there was no basis for the motion. But that would not … solve the problem of the petitioner. Because no confidence motion is determined on the basis of the strength of the … councillors,” Mr. Justice Chandru said.

Other legal grounds

Pointing out that the motion merely said the councillors had lost faith in the chairman because of his arbitrary action and no development works had taken place in the municipality, the judge said it was always open to the petitioner to approach the court if he felt that there were other legal grounds in his favour.

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