Ramalakshmi .S v. The Principal Secretary
BEFORE THE MADURAI BENCH OF MADRAS HIGH COURT DATED: 18.10.2023 Coram THE HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE M.SUNDAR and THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE R.SAKTHIVEL and W.M.P(MD)No.21378 of 2023 S.Ramalakshmi .. Petitioner vs 1.The Principal Secretary, Home (Prison) Department, Fort St. George, Secretariat, Chennai - 600 009.
2.The Additional Director General of Police (Prison) / The Inspector General Prison, CMDA Tower - II, No.1, Gandhi Irwin Road, Egmore, Chennai.
3.The Superintendent of Prison, Coimbatore Central Prison, Coimbatore.
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4.The Superintendent of Prison, Madurai Central Prison, Madurai.
.. Respondents Prayer:- Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying for issuance of a writ of Mandamus directing the respondents 1 and 2 to transfer the petitioner's son namely Karthi @ Agori Karthick, son of Shanmugam, aged about 26 years from the Central Prison, Coimbatore to the Central Prison, Madurai or any other Prison which is surrounding in the Madurai District by considering the petitioner's representation dated 15.09.2023 forthwith. For Petitioner :
Mr.C.Prithviraj For Respondents :
Mr.A.Thiruvadi Kumar Additional Public Prosecutor
ORDER
[Order of the Court was made by M.SUNDAR, J.] Captioned 'Writ Petition' [hereinafter 'WP' for the sake of brevity] and the captioned 'Writ Miscellaneous Petition' [hereinafter 'WMP' for the sake of brevity) have been filed in this Court on 09.10.2023 with a Mandamus prayer. Prayer is to Mandamus official respondents 1 and 2 to transfer writ petitioner's son (to be noted, writ petitioner's son Karthi Page Nos.2/11
@ Agori Karthick, aged 26 years is a prison inmate) from Coimbatore Central Prison to Central Prison, Madurai or to any other surrounding District. Prayer itself refers to 'a representation dated 15.09.2023' [hereinafter 'said representation' for the sake of brevity] and Mandamus prayer is predicated on this representation. 2.Today in the hearing Mr.C.Prithviraj, learned counsel on record for writ petitioner adverting to 15.09.2023 representation submits inter alia that there is difficulty for the prison inmate to instruct his lawyer for conducting the case (to be noted, inter alia because this is one of the reasons) and therefore the representation. 3.Issue notice.
4.Mr.A.Thiruvadi Kumar, learned Additional Public Prosecutor accepts notice for all four respondents and submits on instructions (instructed by Mr.S.Bharathi Thasan, Laison Officer, Page Nos.3/11
Madurai) that the prison inmate is being transferred from Coimbatore Central Prison to Puzhal Prison in Chennai today (18.10.2023). However, learned Prosecutor submits that aforementioned 15.09.2023 representation has been received.
5.In this scenario, learned counsel for writ petitioner abridged the prayer and submitted that it will suffice if there is a directive to the second respondent to dispose of the aforementioned 15.09.2023 representation.
6.To be noted, a scanned reproduction of said representation as placed before us is as follows:
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7.The second respondent has been described as Additional Director General of Police (Prison)/The Inspector General Prison, CMDA Tower - II, No.1, Gandhi Irwin Road, Egmore, Chennai but this Bench is informed that it is the Director General of Police (Prisons), Office of Inspector General of Prisons, CMDA Tower - II, No.1, Gandhi Irwin Road, Egmore, Chennai.
8.To be noted, in the light of the narrow scope of the captioned WP and the abridged prayer, main WP is taken up in the Admission Board itself with the consent of both sides. 9.Now the main WP is disposed of with a directive to the Director General of Police (Prisons), Office of Inspector General of Prisons, CMDA Tower - II, No.1, Gandhi Irwin Road, Egmore, Chennai, to dispose of aforementioned 15.09.2023 representation as expeditiously as his business would permit but in any event within three weeks from today i.e., by 08.11.2023.
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10.The order/proceedings disposing of the aforementioned 15.09.2023 representation shall be communicated to said prison inmate forthwith and to writ petitioner under due acknowledgment within seven working days therefrom.
11.Captioned WP is disposed of in the aforesaid manner. Captioned WMP is disposed of as closed. There shall be no order as to costs.
(M.S.,J.) (R.S.V.,J.) 18.10.2023 Index : Yes/No ps Page Nos.9/11
To 1.The Principal Secretary, Home (Prison) Department, Fort St. George, Secretariat, Chennai - 600 009.
2.The Additional Director General of Police (Prison) / The Inspector General Prison, CMDA Tower - II, No.1, Gandhi Irwin Road, Egmore, Chennai.
3.The Superintendent of Prison, Coimbatore Central Prison, Coimbatore.
4.The Director General of Police (Prisons), Office of Inspector General of Prisons, CMDA Tower - II, No.1, Gandhi Irwin Road, Egmore, Chennai 5.The Superintendent of Prison, Madurai Central Prison, Madurai.
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M.SUNDAR, J., and R.SAKTHIVEL, J., ps 18.10.2023 Page Nos.11/11