The central legal point established is the consideration of medical grounds and the interpretation of the eligibility for ordinary leave under Rule 22(3) of the Tamil Nadu Suspension of Sentence Rules, 1982.

JUDGMENT

(Prayer: Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying for issuance of a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to extend the leave for 30 days without escort from 18.09.2023 to the detenu Palani, son of Sankarapandi, aged about 47 years, the Convict No.4296, detained at Central Prison, Palayamkottai.)

M. Sundar, J.

1. Captioned writ petition pertains to extension of ordinary leave for a convict prisoner Thiru.Palani [Convict No.4296], son of Thiru.Sankarapandi on the ground that he continues to be unwell, requires further medical treatment and needs to be under the management of an Endovascular Surgeon.

2. Dr.S.Manoharan, learned counsel for writ petitioner drew our attention to our earlier order dated 16.08.2023 made in W.P.No.24012 of 2023, which reads as follows:

''This order will now dispose of the captioned writ petition.

2. Factual matrix in a nutshell is that petitioner''s son Thiru.Palani, son of Thiru. Sankarapandi, is a life convict (Convict No.4296) now lodged in Central Prison, Palayamkottai having been convicted and sentenced vide S.C.No.61 of 1999 in Crime No.150 of 1996 on the file of II Additional District and Sessions Judge''s Court, Tirunelveli; that the writ petitioner''s request for 28 days ordinary leave was negatived in and by an ''order signed by the third respondent on 10.03.2023 bearing reference No.1323/jF/2/2023'' [hereinafter ''impugned order'' for the sake of convenience and clarity]; that captioned writ petition has been filed in this Court on 09.08.2023 assailing the impugned order and seeking 28 days ordinary leave for the convict prisoner i.e., petitioner''s son.

3. Dr.S.Manoharan, learned counsel adverting to the impugned order submitted that only ground on which impugned order has been made is Rule 22 of ''Tamil Nadu Suspension of Sentence Rules, 1982'' [hereinafter ''said Rules'' for the sake of convenience and clarity] and G.O.No.205 dated 25.04.2022 i.e., the ground that one year has not elapsed since 20 days ordinary leave was last availed by the convict prisoner [21.09.2023 at 10.30 am to 10.10.2023 at 05.30 pm].

4. Issue notice.

5. Mr.E.Raj Thilak, accepted notice for all three respondents and submitted on instructions that Rule 22 of said Rules captioned ''Eligibility for ordinary leave'' and more particularly sub-rule (3) thereat says that a prisoner shall be granted a second or subsequent spell of ordinary leave after completion of one year of imprisonment from the date on which he returned from the last ordinary leave. Adverting to this sub-rule (3) of Rule 22 (to be noted, only Rule 22 has been mentioned in the impugned order but learned Prosecutor drew our attention to sub-rule (3) thereat), it was submitted that convict prisoner returned on 10.10.2022 at 05.30pm (after availing leave on the last occasion) and therefore, one year therefrom will elapse only after 1 ½ months from today.

6. In response to the aforementioned submission, learned counsel for writ petitioner submitted by way of reply that the aforementioned earlier spell of 20 days was not granted by the Executive arm i.e., prison authorities but was granted by a Hon''ble Division Bench in the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court vide order dated 16.09.2022 made in W.P (MD) No.5749 of 2022.

7. The aforementioned order has not been annexed in the typed-set of papers. Therefore, this Court ferreted out the same from the official website and a scanned reproduction of the same is as follows:

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8. From the submissions made by both sides, it comes to light that convict prisoner is entitled to 28 days leave and only impediment is one year from the date on which he returned (returned after earlier spell of 20 days leave) had not elapsed and hence sub-rule (3) of Rule 22 of said Rules is the only impediment. In this view of the matter, considering that one year wo