Madras high court rejects petition against India’s participation at CHOGM in Sri Lanka
Wednesday, 30 October 2013 00:39
-
- {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
An Indian court yesterday dismissed a petition seeking the Indian Government to boycott next month’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Sri Lanka.
The Madras High Court dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking a directive to the Central Indian Government to stay away from participating in the Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka.
Dismissing the PIL filed by a citizen, the Madras High Court said sympathy and sentiment cannot be a ground to pass judicial orders and the court cannot interfere with the government’s foreign policy.
The PIL demanded the India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to take a decision to boycott the event citing that Tamils in Sri Lanka were subjected to various forms of harassment, leading to torture and disappearance and India’s participation in CHOGM would give a wrong signal/impression that India was actively aiding and abetting human rights violations and abuses.
The first bench comprising Chief Justice R.K. Agrawal and Justice M. Sathyanarayanan while considering the issues raised by the petitioner said that “in the absence of any statutory/legal right on the part of the petitioner to compel the MEA to perform legal duties, a writ of mandamus cannot be issued directing the Ministry to consider and dispose of the representation within a stipulated time frame”.
The bench further said that the PIL touches upon the foreign policy of the Government of India, which depends upon many factors governing the welfare and other factors and the “court does not have expertise to analyse the same”.
