Allahabad High Court To Decide On Enforceability Of A Promise Made By The Chief Minister To The Public At Large

The Allahabad High Court is set to examine the question as to whether a promise made to the public at large by the Chief Minister of the State be made enforceable or not.

The Bench of Justice Attau Rahman Masoodi and Justice Narendra Kumar Johari was dealing with a plea moved by Suraj Singh And Others seeking 5 lakh compensation based on an announcement made by the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.

Essentially, the announcement was made by the UP CM in July 2019 after some people had met with an accident while traveling in a bus from Lucknow to Delhi. As many as 29 passengers had died out of whom 13 belonged to district Lucknow.

Now the dependents of those who died in the accident and were assured 5 lakh compensation by the state's chief minister, approached the High Court seeking disbursal of the amount in their favor.

The Court noted that the announcement was reported in the newspapers, however, the same was not notified in any other official document of the State on the basis of which a right may have accrued to the petitioners.

However, the Court did stress that a promise made to the public at large by Hon'ble the Chief Minister of the State requires consideration.

In view of this, the Court sought the reply of the state government as to whether any such compensation was announced to be made by the State towards the loss of life of any such passenger to the dependents or family members of the deceased.

With this, the matter has now been listed in the week commencing 18.07.2022, as fresh.

In related news, last year in July, the Delhi High Court had held that a promise or assurance given by the Chief Minister in a press conference amounts to an enforceable promise and that a CM is expected to exercise his authority to give effect to such a promise. However, later on, the Delhi High Court had temporarily stayed the order.

While upholding the detention of a man, accused of black marketing of Remdesivir injections amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the Madhya Pradesh High Court had, in July 2021, observed that the social media posts of a Chief Minister can't be equated with an administrative order/instruction.

Similarly, last year in November, the Telangana High Court had observed that the assurance given by some Ruling Party or by the Chief Minister or even by His Excellency the Governor does not become the law of the land.

The assertion had come from the bench of then Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice A.Rajasheker Reddy while dismissing a clutch of petitions seeking retrospective implementation of the State Government's decision to enhance the retirement age for government jobs from 58 or 60 years to 61 years.

Case title - Suraj Singh And Others v. State Of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. Finance Civil Sectt. U.P. Lko. And Others [WRIT - C No. - 4138 of 2022]

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