Successive writ petitions to obstruct highway encroachment removal constitute abuse of process.

The petitioner sought a writ of mandamus to restrain the authorities from demolishing a Perumal Temple situated in T.S. No. 18, Block-1, Ward-B, Anbu Nagar, Namakkal, alleging that they were acting without proceedings under the Highways Act.

The Highways authority had issued an encroachment-removal notice dated 21 February 2025.

Earlier challenges to notices concerning the same site were brought in W.P. Nos. 21157 and 47037 of 2025; the first was withdrawn and the second dismissed.

A later mandamus petition by S. Mohan was also withdrawn.

After a final notice dated 25 September 2026, the petitioner filed the present petition seeking the same relief.

1. Whether the petitioner was entitled to a mandamus restraining the authorities from removing the temple as an alleged highway encroachment.

2. Whether the present petition, following earlier proceedings concerning the same site and relief, constituted an abuse of the process of the Court.

The Court considered the authorities’ action under the Tamil Nadu Highways Act to remove an encroachment, noting that a notice had been issued under that Act.

It also applied the principle that repeated proceedings pursuing substantially the same relief may amount to an abuse of the process of the Court.

The Court traced the successive challenges to the proposed removal, including the earlier petitions that were withdrawn or dismissed, and found that the present petitioner sought the same relief after the authorities issued a final notice.

It concluded that the successive proceedings, brought by different persons, were attempts to prevent the authorities from acting under the Highways Act and amounted to an abuse of process.

It therefore found no merit in the petition.

and imposed costs of ₹10,000, payable to the Tamil Nadu Advocate’s Clerks’ Association, Madras High Court, within four weeks. The connected interim application was also dismissed.