Writ Petition By Employees Against Air India Not Maintainable After Its Privatisation: Supreme Court

The judgment orally pronounced by the Bench of Justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta stated:

“In wake of discussion made hereinabove, we do not find any reason to take a different view from the one taken by the Division Bench of the Bombay High Court in sustaining the preliminary objection qua maintainability of writ petition preferred by the appellants….has been not maintainable. With the above observations, the appeals are dismissed, no order has to pass.”

To recap, the High Court bench comprising Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice M S Karnik had held, "The writ petitions, although maintainable on the dates they were instituted, have ceased to be maintainable by reason of privatization of AIL which takes it beyond our jurisdiction to issue a writ or order or direction to it."

As a result, the petitioners, i.e., the concerned employees, preferred a Special Leave Petition before the Supreme Court challenged the above order.  Last year, in January, the Top court issued a notice in the instant petition.

Senior Advocate Sanjay Singhvi, appearing for the petitioners, had submitted before the bench that the Writ Petitions, when filed, were admittedly maintainable. He further added, "the principle that maintainability of a matter is to be determined with reference to the facts as they existed on the date of the institution of the Petitions cannot be ordinarily deviated from."

On the other hand, Senior Advocate Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Air India Limited, had apprised the bench of several orders passed by various High Court across the country where Petitions against Air India Limited had been disposed of as non-maintainable due to the subsequent privatisation of an entity which was earlier a "State" under Article 12 of the Constitution of India.