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State of Kerala & Anr. etc. etc. v. M/S RDS Project Limited & Ors. etc. etc.

Civil Appeal · 2020 INSC 559Decided 22 Sept 2020
Civil Appeal Nos. 3239-3246 of 2020
Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman · Justice Navin Sinha · Justice Indira Banerjee

Background

The Palarivattom Flyover in Kochi, Kerala, built by the contractor-respondent and opened in 2016, developed serious structural cracks within a year. Two sets of experts gave conflicting opinions: one (IIT Madras) recommended repair/strengthening, while another (engineer Dr. E. Sreedharan) recommended demolishing and rebuilding the flyover for a guaranteed 100-year lifespan. The Kerala Government set up a five-member High Level Technical Committee, which examined both reports and recommended accepting Dr. Sreedharan's demolish-and-rebuild proposal; the State accepted this and decided to hand the bridge over to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation for reconstruction. The contractor challenged this decision in the Kerala High Court, which instead of reviewing whether the government's decision was arbitrary, directed that a "load test" first be conducted on the flyover before any demolition.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the High Court had overstepped its role in judicial review. Instead of confining itself to checking whether the government's decision violated Article 14 (i.e., was arbitrary or irrational), the High Court had effectively substituted its own preference (a load test) for the government's informed decision. Since a genuine expert committee of five qualified engineers had examined the divergent technical opinions and reached a reasoned conclusion, which the government then accepted, the Court held it was not open to the High Court to say the government behaved arbitrarily. On this ground alone, the Supreme Court set aside the High Court's judgment (and its subsequent review order), allowed the State's appeals, and directed that any pending writ petitions on the matter be disposed of within six months.

Lesson Learnt

Courts exercising writ/judicial review jurisdiction should not second-guess a government's acceptance of a reasoned expert technical committee's report by substituting their own preferred technical solution: their role is limited to checking whether the decision-making process was arbitrary or illegal, not whether it was the best possible choice.

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

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