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2026 Supreme(Online)(Mad) 44745

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
P.T. Asha, J
V.Laciotat Clovis – Appellant
Versus
Union of India – Respondent

Advocates:
For the Appellants/Petitioners: R. Saravanan
For the Respondents: R.Sreedhar

The High Court may issue a writ of mandamus directing administrative authorities to consider and dispose of a pending representation within a specified timeframe without determining the merits of the underlying claim.

Headnote:The petitioner filed a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking a mandamus to compel the respondents to consider a representation dated 31.12.2025 regarding appointment to the post of Junior Assistant/LDC with retrospective effect from 30.01.2002. The petitioner, initially appointed as a Sanitary Worker, asserted eligibility for the higher position at the time of entry. The Court did not enter into the merits of the appointment but ordered the respondents to consider the pending representation. The essential issue was whether the administrative authority was obliged to address a long-pending representation concerning employment benefits and retrospective promotion. The Court reasoned that administrative law requires authorities to dispose of representations in a timely manner. The ratio decidendi emphasizes the Court's limited role in administrative matters to merely directing statutory authorities to exercise their powers of consideration. The writ petition was disposed of with a direction to the respondents to pass orders on the merits of the representation within six weeks.

Table of Content
1. the petitioner seeks redress regarding a request for retrospective appointment post-compassionate entry. (Para 1 , 2)
2. court directs authorities to consider and decide a pending representation within fixed timeline. (Para 3)

ORDER

This writ petition is filed for the following relief:

“To direct the respondents to consider and pass appropriate orders on the representation of the petitioner dated 31.12.2025 seeking appointment to the post of Junior Assistant / LDC with retrospective effect from 30.01.2002.”

2. The petitioner was appointed as a Sanitary Worker on compassionate grounds on 30.01.2002 in Puducherry Municipality. At the time of his appointment, six candidates were appointed on compassionate grounds and the petitioner was placed at S.No.1 in seniority and possessed requisite educational qualification to be appointed to the post of LDC. The petitioner sent several representations to respondents seeking appointment to the post of Junior Assistant / LDC with retrospective effect from 30.01.2002. Since there is no response, the petitioner is before this Court.

3. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case and the fact that the petitioner’s representation dated 31.12.2025 has not been considered to date, without going into the merits of the case a direction is issued to respondents to consider the petitioner’s representation and pass orders on its own merits within a period of 6 weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order.

4. With the above direction, this writ petition is disposed of. No costs.

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2026 Supreme(Online)(Mad) 44745

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRASP.T. Asha, JV.Laciotat Clovis – AppellantVersusUnion of India – Respondent

The High Court may issue a writ of mandamus directing administrative authorities to consider and dispose of a pending representation within a specified timeframe without determining the merits of the underlying claim.

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
P.T. Asha, J
V.Laciotat Clovis – Appellant
Versus
Union of India – Respondent