In a major setback to the State government, a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Tuesday dismissed a writ petition filed by Transport Minister Thomas Chandy seeking to quash the Alappuzha District Collector’s report which alleged large-scale land grab by him to build a resort at Kuttanad.
The Bench, while dismissing the petition, made an adverse remark that a Minister moving a writ against the government was a violation of the collective responsibility of the Cabinet.
On a day of high drama in the court, the Bench, after hearing the arguments of the counsel for the Minister and the State Attorney in the forenoon, offered the former the opportunity to withdraw the petition before pronouncing the judicial order.
Later, the two judges dictated the order in open court, terming the act of Mr. Chandy as something unheard of. The court pointed out that collective responsibility of the Cabinet included confidentiality and solidarity.
No Minister shall disclose the discussions held at Cabinet meetings. He shall also not oppose a decision of the Cabinet outside the Cabinet and must defend it in public even if he might have opposed it in the Cabinet meeting, the court reminded the Minister.
In this case, the Minister had arraigned the government as the first respondent. He had also listed the Chief Secretary and other officers as other respondents. Mr. Chandy had stated in the petition that he is a Minister, which amounted to violation of collective responsibility. No Minister could ever sue a government in which he continued to be a part, the court said.
The collective responsibility of the Cabinet should move only collectively. If a no-confidence motion was passed against a Minister alone, the whole Cabinet had to resign. The Cabinet could swim collectively or perish collectively, supplementing to the order pronounced by the senior judge, the second judge of the Bench held.
Terming the writ as a non-maintainable one, the court said the petitioner could approach the District Collector to get his name removed from the documents and reports regarding the ownership of the land in question.