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R. S. Madireddy and Others vs Union of India and Others

Not available · 2024 INSC 425Decided 16 May 2024
Not available
Justice B.R. Gavai · Justice Sandeep Mehta

Background

A group of former Air India cabin crew employees, who had worked for Air India when it was a wholly government-owned company, filed writ petitions between 2011 and 2013 in the Bombay High Court raising grievances about pay stagnation, promotion, and wage revision arrears. While these petitions were still pending, the Government of India sold 100% of its shares in Air India to a private company (Talace India Pvt Ltd) in January 2022. By the time the High Court finally heard the case in 2022, Air India was no longer government-owned, and the High Court dismissed the petitions as not maintainable against a now-private company, while giving the employees liberty to pursue other legal remedies.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court framed three questions: whether a privatised former government company could still be subject to writ jurisdiction, whether the employees could be denied relief simply because their employer changed character during the case's pendency, and whether the long delay in deciding the case should count in the employees' favour. The Court held that the test for writ maintainability applies at the time the court actually exercises its jurisdiction (i.e., when the writ would be issued), not merely when the petition was filed, surveying High Court precedents from Gujarat, Delhi, and Bombay that took this same view, and distinguishing a lone contrary Calcutta High Court ruling. Since Air India had ceased to be a "State" or its instrumentality under Article 12 once fully privatised and was performing no public function, it could not be commanded by a writ. The Court found the Bombay High Court had correctly balanced this by dismissing the writs while preserving the employees' right to sue in an ordinary civil forum, with Section 14 of the Limitation Act protecting them from a limitation bar caused by time spent in the wrong forum. The appeals were dismissed.

Lesson Learnt

A writ petition against a government company under Article 226/Article 12 must remain maintainable at the actual time the court decides the case, not just at filing. If the employer is privatised in the interim and stops performing public functions, employees must pursue their claims through ordinary civil remedies instead, though time already spent in the writ court will generally be excluded from limitation calculations.

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

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