A writ of quo warranto cannot be issued for the removal of Ministers, who are the people's representatives.

(THE HONOURABLE CHIEF JUSTICE AND T.S.SIVAGNANAM, J.)

1. In this writ petition, the petitioner who appears in person, has sought for issuance of a writ of quo warranto for the removal of the second respondent, the Forest Minister, on the ground that there is a violation of the Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act prohibiting erection of digital banners.

2. It is alleged that while he was travelling in Kamarajar Salai from Light House to Parry's Corner, he found so many digital banners fixed in the lamp posts. There is no whisper in the writ petition that those banners have been fixed by the second respondent, the Forest Minister. We, therefore, first called upon the petitioner to satisfy this Court as to how and under what law, he has prayed for issuance of a writ of quo warranto, even assuming that the second respondent has violated the Municipal Law.

3. After we posed the above question to Mr.Ramaswamy, the petitioner herein, he submits that he may be apologized and some direction could be issued.

4. We deprecate the practice of filing such petition designed as public interest litigation. The Supreme Court and other High Courts in a series of decisions, have held that a writ of quo warranto cannot be issued for the removal of the Ministers, who are the people's representatives. The Constitutional remedy is available in the Constitution and a writ court cannot issue quo warranto.

5. Reference may be made to the decisions of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, Punjab and Haryana High Court and Karnataka High Court, which are as under:-

i. Dr.Y.S.Rajasekara Reddy and others -vs-Nara Chandrababu Naidu and others (AIR 2000 AP 142);

ii. P.Radhakrishna -vs- Mr.Ram Naik and others (2002 (6) ALD 8);

iii. Hardwari Lal -vs- Ch.Bhajan Lal and others (AIR 1993 P & H 3); and

iv. B.M.Gangadhariah -vs- H.D.Devegowda (AIR 1989 Kant 294

6. We may, at this stage, quote the observations of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in the case of Dr.Y.S.Rajasekara Reddy and others -vs-Nara Chandrababu Naidu and others (AIR 2000 AP 142), wherein in paragraph 23, it has been held as under:-

''23. Issuance of a writ of quo warranto against a Minister or Chief Minister for violating the Constitutional oath or non-discharge of Constitutional function is not res integra. Conspectus of law on the subject emerges from the decisions in Darley -vs- The Queen, 12, Cl & Fin.520 and R v. Speyer (supra) referred to in K.C.Chcmdy v. R.Balakrishna, AIR 1986 Ker 116, that once the office is held under a valid title and the continuance of the person in the office depends upon the pleasure doctrine, quo warranto does not run; and no such writ, which can be defeated immediately by the mere exercise of an executive will, will therefore issue. The principle was followed in K.Sukumar v. Union of India AIR 1987 SC 212. The Madras High Court in Ramachandran v. M.G.Ramachandran, AIR 1987 Mad 207, Andhra Pradesh High Court in D.Satyanarayana v. N.T.Rama Rao, AIR 1988 AP 62 and the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Hardwari Lal v. Ch.Bhajan Lal, , came to the conclusion that a writ of quo warranto against the Chief Minister of a State, who is appointed by the Governor and holds the office during his pleasure, cannot be issued as the power to terminate the tenure of the office of the Chief Minister being solely vested in the Governor under Article 164(1) of the Constitution. Emphasis may be laid on the following observations : ''Ordinarily, the Governor allows, or may have to tolerate, the continuation in the office of the Chief Minister so long as he enjoys the majority of the Members of the Legislative Assembly unless, in the meanwhile, he suffered any specific disqualification for holding that office. This is so in keeping with the well-established democratic values and conventions, inspite of the fact that Article 164(1) of the Constitution permits the Chief Minister to continue in office only during the pleasure of the Governor. The Governor might nevertheless face ex