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Koshy Jacob v. Union of India & Ors. (2017 INSC 1153)

Writ Petition (Civil) · 2017 INSC 1153Decided 28 Nov 2017
Writ Petition (Civil) No. 55 of 2013
Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel · Justice Uday Umesh Lalit

Background

The petitioner, an advocate, was stranded for over 12 hours trying to get home after hospital surgery because of an ongoing strike/agitation. He filed a writ petition under Article 32 seeking enforcement of the Supreme Court's earlier guidelines from Destruction of Public and Private Properties, In Re v. State of Andhra Pradesh (2009), which had recommended legal reforms to hold organizers of violent protests accountable for property damage. Although those guidelines were issued about eight years earlier, no actual legislation had been enacted to implement them, prompting this petition.

Decision Breakdown

The Union of India informed the Court that a draft amendment to the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984 was already under preparation and had been put up for public comment, and that interim guidelines (videography of protests, accountability of organizers, police reporting procedures) had already been circulated to all States. The Attorney General acknowledged the genuine need for stronger preventive and remedial measures, including a mechanism to fix accountability and compensate victims. The Court reiterated that it could not itself direct Parliament to enact a law, that is for the legislature, and expressed hope that the proposed law would be brought into force within a reasonable time. As for the petitioner's own personal grievance, the Court noted the organizers of the specific agitation that affected him were not parties before it, so he was left free to pursue his individual claim for damages in an appropriate forum. The writ petition was accordingly disposed of.

Lesson Learnt

The Supreme Court can direct the government to act on a problem and record assurances of legislative reform, but it cannot itself legislate; an individual seeking personal compensation for harm caused by a protest/strike must pursue that claim against the actual organizers in the appropriate forum, not through a public-interest writ aimed at systemic reform.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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