Kerala High Court Refuses To Let Nilambur MLA Withdraw PIL On Tribal Welfare, Asks Him To Take Responsibility Now That He Has Power

The Kerala High Court on Monday (July 28) disposed of a PIL filed by Nilambur MLA Aryadan Shouketh for the betterment of tribal persons residing in the Nilambur Taluk with the observation that the MLA himself should take steps to address the issues raised in his petition.

The PIL was filed on 27th July 2023 by Shouketh and others, two years before Shoukath was elected as Nilambur MLA in June 2025. It sought a direction to the 16th respondent acting as Tribal monitoring committee to inspect the tribal colonies in Pothugal Grama Panchayat, Vazhikadavu Grama Panchayat and Karulai Grama Panchayath in Nilambur Taluk tribal and report the pathetic living condition of tribal families in sheds covered with plastic sheets in the deep forest.

The PIL also highlighted imminent danger being faced by these families and lack of connectivity with the main land in the absence of Iruttukutty Concrete bridge constructed across the Chaliyarpuzha and Punjakolli Iron Bridge constructed across the Puhnapuzha river which were washed away during the flood in the year 2018 and 2019.

Today, when the matter came up for consideration, Shouketh's counsel submitted that he got elected as MLA and prayed for deleting him from the party array.

"Why delete? He should now do this work. We'll entrust him with this task," the division bench of Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Basant Balaji orally observed.

Thereupon, the counsel sought to withdraw the case. However, the Court refused to allow the petitioner from withdrawing the PIL.

The Court further orally remarked: "You are an MLA, now you want to withdraw? You do it, you fail, you come back. You can't withdraw from petition. What is this? You are now in better position. You are now elected representative of this area. You take up this task...This must be your campaign manifesto. Please don't ask us. Don't force us to make further observations. We were surprised that you want to withdraw the petition."

The court disposed of the PIL as follows:

"This petition is filed about the human right violation and conditions of tribals residing in ...Various issues have been raised in this petition, which are towards achieving and securing basic necessities of life and social justice of tribals in the area. The prayers in the petition are also regarding taking effective steps to build a bridge across the river. This is a task which is to be carried by the local authorities, state government, elected representatives. We are now informed that the petitioner 1 has been elected as the member of the Legislative Assembly...Now that the petitioner has been elected as MLA, he would be in a better position to address the issue he himself has raised in this petition. Therefore, we are of the opinion that this task should be taken forward by the petitioner No. 1 in his new capacity...Petitioner No 1 who has been elected as the representative of the people of this area would look into it in the new position that he has assumed..."

With these observations, the Court disposed of the public interest litigation.

Case Title: Aryadan Shouketh and Ors. v. Union of India and Ors.

Case No: WPC No. 24828/2023 

Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Ker) 460 

Counsel for the petitioners: Peeyus A. Kottam, Hrithwik D. Namboothiri, Ragesh Chand R.G.

Counsel for the respondents: Vandana P. - CGC, D. Ajithkumar, N. Manoj Kumar - State Attorney, K.R. Ranjith

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