JUDGMENT :

SANJIB BANERJEE, J.

Prayer: Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for issuance of a Writ of Declaration declaring that the act of issuing by the Respondent the press Release P.R. No. 02-04/2021 dated 10.04.2021 and there under collecting by the Respondent with effect from 11.04.2021 a fine of Rs. 200 from every passenger if that passenger was found not wearing Face Mask inside the Metro Station preemies/while traveling in Metro Trains is void ab initio illegal and unconstitutional. To issue an order obliging the respondent to remit the Tamil Nadu State Legal Aid Fund established by the Tamil Nadu State Legal services Authority the total amount of Rs. 3,600 collected by the Respondent till 23.04.2021 from a total 18 passengers and any further amount collected thereafter, as fine under the impugned act of collecting fine by the respondent and other reliefs.

1. The limited grievance of the petitioner in this public interest litigation pertains to a press release bearing P.R. No. 02/04/2021 dated April 10, 2021, issued by the Chennai Metro Rail Limited, imposing a fine of Rs. 200/- on every person found not wearing a face mask inside any metro station premises or while travelling on any metro train.

2. The impugned press release refers to the necessity to control the spread of the pandemic and the advice by the Greater Chennai Corporation under the provisions of the Epidemic Control Act and Public Health Act for face masks being mandatory. The press release also refers to the Government of Tamil Nadu having ordered a spot fine of Rs. 200/- on anyone found without a face mask in public. The operative part of the impugned press release provides as follows:

“1. A fine of Rs. 200/- will be collected if a passenger is found not wearing a face mask or not properly wearing a Face Mask inside Metro Station premises/while travelling in Metro Trains.

2. The fine shall be imposed by respective Station Controllers/CMRL staff deputed for this purpose at Metro Station premises and by a flying squad on the Metro Trains, duly issuing a receipt from the Penalty Receipt booklet.”

3. According to the petitioner, in terms of the relevant press release, fines have been imposed on persons by the Chennai Metro Rail Limited from or about April 11, 2021 and a substantial amount in excess of Rs. 87,000/- has been collected in such regard.

4. It is evident that the Health and Family Welfare Department of the State issued a notification published in the Tamil Nadu Government gazette on September 4, 2020 by which, in exercise of the power of the Government under Section 138-A of the Tamil Nadu Public Health Act, 1939, certain categories of offences were introduced together with respective fines therefor, apparently under Section 76(2) of the Act of 1939.

5. It is not necessary to go into the veracity of such provision or the ordinance or subsequent enactment introduced in such regard. Plainly, despite assuming that the ordinance or the subsequent enactment were and are valid, the authority to impose such a penalty could not have been appropriated by the Chennai Metro Rail Limited without the law governing the Chennai Metro Rail Limited expressly conferring jurisdiction on such body to impose a penalty.

6. If at all, the State may have imposed such penalty, assuming that the ordinance and the subsequent enactment were and are valid by treating a metro station and metro coach as public places. However, merely because the State had the authority to impose the penalty would not imply that the Chennai Metro Rail Limited could draw therefrom or had the power or jurisdiction to issue the impugned press release, however well-intentioned the same may have been. There can be no doubt that the press release was issued in public interest and in furtherance of public health. However, whatever may have been the pious intention behind the move, when the action is confiscatory in nature as the imposition of a fine or penalty, it has to be backed by d