Sridharan v. The Secretary To Government

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS

DATED: 16.02.2026 CORAM :

THE HONOURABLE MR. MANINDRA MOHAN SHRIVASTAVA, CHIEF JUSTICE AND THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE G.ARUL MURUGAN & W.M.P.No.4475 of 2026 Sridharan Son of Parasuraman No. 64 -Pakkamudaiyanpet Main Road Poiyakulam, Puducherry 605 008.

Petitioner(s) Vs

1. The Secretary to Government Adhi Dravida Welfare and Schedule Tribes Welfare Department Kamaraj Salai, Gnanathiyagu Nagar Puducherry -605 009.

2. The Director Adhi Dravida Welfare and Schedule Tribes Welfare Department Kamaraj Salai, Gnanathiyagu Nagar Puducherry -605 009.

3. The District Collector Department of Revenue and Disaster Management Puducherry.

4. P. Gunasekaran

5. N.Deivarasan

6. S. Sivasankaran 7.S. Radhakrishnan 8.E.Mahalakshmi 9.E. Muthusamy 10.S.Sivarajan 11.A.Veeravelu 12.R. Suresh 13.D.Kalaivannan 14.E.Sudhakar 15.S. Sarubala 16.M.Madhavan 17.V. Veeran 18.P.Narayanamurthy 19.T.Dhanasekar 20.P.Vinothsmji 21.B. Sakthivel 22.G.Umaiyal 23.A.Arulmurugan 24.B. Sivagami 25.D.Srinivasan 26.A. Umaiyal 27.M.Manivannan 28.V.Palanivel 29.M.Elango 30.M.Kalpana 31.P.Vinayagamurugan 32.K. Subramanian 33.M. Shanmugam 34.J. Vijaya 35.K.Babu 36.S.Malliga 37.P.Rajavelu 38.S. Pounganam 39.A.Sumitha 40.S.Murugaiyan 41.S. Seenukumar 42.M.Kothandaraman

43.T.Varalakshmi 44.M.Devaki 45.R. Selvam 46.R.Samundeeswari 47.V. Manimaran 48.V.Hari 49.T.Hariharan 50.K.Karunakaran 51.M. Gunasekaran 52.S.Chinnaponnu 53.V. Kalaivannan 54.R.Baskar 55.J. Mugunthan 56.P.Jayaprakash 57.M.Karthikeyan 58.R.Radhakrishnan 59.K.Rukumani @ Shanthi 60.S.Bharathidasan 61.M.Selvaraj 62.A.Veerammal 63.R.Harikrishnan 64.Kalaiselvi 65.B.Murugan 66.K.Arumugam 67.A.Ezhumalai 68.S.Thirugnanamurthy 69.A.Valliammal 70.L. Angappan 71.M.Malarmannan 72.R.Perumal Raj 73.K. Ramajeyam 74.A.Arisakthi 75.S. Pazhniyandi 76.R.Kala 77.V. Sriraman 78..V. Narayanasami 79.R. Muthulatuchmi 80.E. Murugaveni 81.Ezhilarasi 82.S.Ramasamy

83.G. Kumar 84.N. Rajagopal @ Sengeni 85.S. Kalainathan 86.K.Ganesan Respondent(s) Prayer : Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking a writ of Declaration declaring that the assignment of free house site pattas to respondents 4 to 86 in respect of land comprised in Survey No. 165/5 of Manapattu Revenue Village, Bahour Commune, Puducherry by respondents 1 to 3 is illegal, arbitrary, and contrary to the eligibility criteria and procedural safeguards mandated under the "Provision of House Sites to Scheduled Castes, 1981" Scheme and the Puducherry Land Grant Rules, 1975, consequently to direct the respondents No. 1 to 3 to invite fresh applications from the public/eligible persons across Puducherry, by adopting a transparent, fair and verifiable selection process strictly in accordance with the above Scheme and Rules.

For Petitioner(s):

Mr. N.U. Pressanna For Respondent(s):

Mr. V.Vasanthakumar Addl. Govt. Pleader (Puducherry) for R1 to R3

ORDER

(Order of the Court was made by the Hon'ble Chief Justice) In this public interest litigation, petitioner is questioning the entire process, by which, official respondents have initiated the process of allotment of lands and consequential allotment of lands to private respondents.

2. At the outset, learned counsel for official respondents would bring to the notice of this Court that the legality and validity of the allotments made, which have been questioned in this petition, are already under challenge before this Court in W.P.No.33645 of 2025.

3. Though learned counsel for petitioner would submit that in that case, challenge is made to the process by an individual who is seeking allotment of land for himself, taking into consideration that in the said writ petition, this Court will have an occasion to examine the correctness and validity of the process of selection, we are of the considered view that it is not necessary for us to examine the

same through this public interest litigation.

4. Petition is closed. There shall be no order as to costs. Consequently, the interim application is also closed. (MANINDRA MOHAN SHRIVASTAVA, CJ) (G.ARUL MURUGAN,J) 16.02.2026 Index :

Yes/No Yes/No kpl To

1. The Secretary to Government Adhi Dravida Welfare and Schedule Tribes Welfare Department Kamaraj Salai, Gnanathiyagu Nagar Puducherry -605 009.

2. The Director Adhi Dravida Welfare and Schedule Tribes Welfare Department Kamaraj Salai, Gnanathiyagu Nagar Puducherry -605 009.

3. The District Collector Department of Revenue and Disaster Management Puducherry.

THE HON'BLE CHIEF JUSTICE AND G.ARUL MURUGAN,J.

(kpl) 16.02.2026