Andaman And Nicobar Administration And ORS v. K.Jayachandran

IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA

[ CIRCUIT BENCH AT PORT BLAIR ] *** MAT/2/2024 With IA CAN/1/2024 Andaman and Nicobar Administration and others Vs.

K. Jayachandran Mr. Shatadru Chakraborty Mr. Dibesh Dwivedi ... for the appellants Mr. KMB Jayapal ... for the respondent January 11, 2024 [SR] Item No.6 This appeal has been preferred, being aggrieved by an order dated October 16, 2023 passed by a learned Single Judge of this Court. The order dated June 17, 2022 passed by the Director, Department of Civil Aviation, Andaman and Nicobar Administration, was under challenge in the writ petition. The said order was set aside by His Lordship, by the order impugned.

His Lordship was of the view that when the Division Bench of this Court, in a Public Interest Litigation, had directed the Administration to frame a guideline or a procedure by which at least a provision could be made, to facilitate the travel of learned advocates to Car Nicobar, Campbell Bay and Mayabunder in the interest of their clients and to attend regular court at Mayabunder and circuit courts at Campbell Bay and Car Nicobar, the Administration ought to have taken a decision in conformity with the said order. His Lordship directed that the Administration must make necessary arrangements, in conformity with the order of

the High Court. The issue involved, affected the public at large and the litigants in the remote islands, may not have access to competent advocates.

Mr. Shatadru Chakraborty, learned advocate appearing on behalf of the appellants submits that the learned court had misdirected himself while passing the order impugned. The learned Court had passed mandatory directions that the Administration had to make a provision for the learned advocates, who were travel to Car Nicobar, Campbel Bay and Mayabunder. His further contention is that the mandatory direction was contrary to the order passed by the Division Bench. The Division Bench, upon realizing the administrative constraints, had directed the Administration to come up with a policy or a guideline to address such issue, instead of passing binding directions.

Mr. Jayapal, learned advocate appearing for the respondent submits that the order passed by the Administration, pursuant to the direction of the Court, was thoroughly misconceived. The Division Bench had specifically directed the Administration to find a solution and not to highlight its problems.

According to Mr. Jayapal, the learned Court had rightly set aside the order impugned, by passing mandatory directions.

Having heard the rival contentions of the parties, we find that it would be prudent to set out the directions of the Division Bench:- " Be that as it may, as the Court finds that the High Court itself had directed the establishment of Courts in these islands and the islands can only be accessed

either by helicopter or by ship, the Administration must look into the matter with the seriousness it deserves and lay down a proper course/guidelines, governing such issue.

The writ petition is disposed of with a direction upon the competent authority of the Andaman and Nicobar Administration to treat the writ petition as a representation and pass necessary orders upon hearing a representative of the petitioners and/or either of the petitioners. A reasoned order shall be passed and communicated to the petitioners."

Pursuant to the order, the Administration heard the writ petitioner and passed an order which was challenged before the learned Single Judge. The authority refused to consider the issue.

In the said order, the authority has highlighted that the department of civil aviation had a fleet of four helicopters, out of which three helicopters were operational. The capacity of the helicopters were limited to six passengers on the way to Nicobar District and eight passengers for North Andaman District. Such limited seats had been provided for safety reasons and to reduce fuel consumption. Moreover, the helicopters were used for transportation of medical facilities, for treatment of patients who need emergent care and also to carry the mortal remains of persons who breathed their last, in those districts. The medical emergencies were unforeseen. Thus, there was a permanent scarcity of seats. Moreover, the regularity of helicopters were interrupted by natural calamity and bad weather, which were common in the islands. Keeping in mind the security, weather forecast and other official requirement in the priority list, the helicopter services were inadequate.

We have considered the above reasons and we find that the Director, Department of Civil Aviation has misconstrued the order passed by the Division Bench. The Division Bench had observed that the problems faced by the litigants in the islands should be addressed and the authority should find a way to ease out the situation and prepare a proper guideline in the nature of a solution to the problem as to how the learned advocates would travel to the districts, in order to attend cases.

It is also true that the road conditions towards the North Andaman, is very bad and litigations are also pending. Under such circumstances, the order impugned is set aside. We are not expressing any opinion on the problems which have been highlighted and we recognize that those problems exist. However, even appreciating the difficulty which the Administration is confronted with, this Court is of the view that there has to be a progress in the communication system. The system which has been prevailing in the past years, should evolve with time. Increasing litigation and change in the social circumstances, should be followed by infrastructural development.

This Court reiterates the directions, which were already passed and directs the Director of Civil Aviation to sit with the petitioner, representative of the bar and find a solution to the issue. The authority must take a policy decision, as to how the matter can be resolved. Frequency of the helicopter service, or increasing the number of helicopters at least during the Circuit Bench period in the districts and possibility of further arrangements for journey by ship, should be explored. It is

not for us to advise the executive in this regard. Such infrastructural facilities have to be developed with the progress of the nation.

The appeal and application are accordingly disposed of. The order impugned is modified to the above extent. The entire exercise shall be completed within a period of four months from the date of communication of this order. ( Shampa Sarkar, J. ) ( Tirthankar Ghosh, J. )