Jayanta Jana v. State of West Bengal and Ors.
Case brief
What is this about?
Calcutta High Court, WPA (P) 89 of 2026 (Jayanta Jana v. The State of West Bengal & Ors.), decided 09.07.2026 by Tapabrata Chakraborty, A.C.J. and Partha Sarathi Chatterjee, J.: writ/PIL petition for expeditious completion of a covered drain under notification and work order dated 03.12.2025 dismissed because a pending civil suit (Title Suit No. 274 of 2025) over the same land involved disputed questions of fact; the writ court held adjudicating such disputes would be an improper exercise of jurisdiction in public interest litigation; no order as to cost; petitioner not precluded from approaching the appropriate authority. Keywords: disputed questions of fact; civil suit pending; encroachment; drain construction; maintainability of PIL; writ jurisdiction.
What did the court decide?
Where a civil suit concerning the land in question is pending before the competent Court and disputed questions of fact have been raised, travelling into the arena to adjudicate such disputed issues would amount to an improper exercise of jurisdiction in a public interest litigation.