Case: Nagendra Nath Bora Vs. The Commissioner of Hills Division

it could have interfered by issuing a writ under Art. 226 of the Constitution, they would be content to utilize their powers of judicial superintendence under Art. 227 of the Constitution vide its judgment dated July 31, 1957, in appeals relating to Murmuria shop (Civil Appeals Nos. 669 and 670 of 1957). In exercise of that power, the High Court set aside the order of the Appellate Authority, and directed it to rehear the appeal according to law in the light of the principles indicated in this judgment. 30. A Constitution Bench of this Court examined the scope of Art. 227 of the Constitution in the case of Waryam Singh v. Amarnath, 1954 SCR 565 : (AIR 1954 SC 215 ) (P). This court, in the course of its judgment, made the following observations at p. 571 (of SCR): (at p. 217 of AIR):"This power of superintendence conferred by article 227 is, as pointed out by Harries, C. J., in Dalmia Jain Airways Ltd. v. Sukumar Mukherjee, AIR 1951 Cal 193 (Q), to be exercised most sparingly and only in appropriate cases in order to keep the Subordinate Courts within the bounds of their authority and not for correcting mere errors." It is, thus,, clear that the powers of judicial interference under Art. 227 of the Constitution with orders of judicial or quasi-judicial nature, are not greater than the powers under Art. 226 of the Constitution. Under Art. 226, the power of interference may extend to quashing an impugned order on the ground of a mistake apparent on the face of the record. But under Art. 227 of the Constitution, the power of interference is limited to seeing that the tribunal functions within the limits of its authority. Hence, interference by the High Court, in these cases either under Art. 226 or 227 of the Constitution, was not justified. 31. After having dealt with the common arguments more or less applicable to all the cases, it remains to consider the special points raised on behalf of the respondents in Civil Appeal No. 672 of 1957, relating of the Tinsukia country spirit shop. It was strenuously argued that the appeal was incompetent in view of the fact that the rule issued by the High Court was still pending, and that this Court does not ordinarily, entertain an appeal against an interlocutory order. It is true that this Court does not interfere in cases which have not been decided by the High Court, but this case has some extraordinary features which attracted the notice of this Court when special leave to appeal was granted. As already stated, the shop in question was settled with the appellants by the Excise Commissioner, and his order was upheld by the Appellate Authority. Accordingly, the appellants had been put in possession of the shop on June 7, 1957. The High Court, while issuing the rule, passed an order on the stay application, which as already indicated, had been misunderstood by the District Excise authorities, and the appellants were dispossessed and the respondents 1 and 2 put back in possession, without any authority of law. This was a flagrant interference with the appellants rights arising out of the settlement made in their favour by the highest revenue authorities. The High Court had not and could not have authorized the dispossession of the persons rightfully in possession of the shop. The appellants brought this flagrant abuse of power to the notice of the High Court several times, but the High Court felt unduly constrained to permit the wrong to continue. We heard the learned counsel for the respondents at great length as to whether he could justify the continuance of this undesirable and unfortunate state of affairs. It has to be remembered that the appellants, as a result of fortuitous circumstances, had been deprived of the possession of the shop during the best part of the financial year 1956-57. The appellants had been deprived of the fruits of their hard-won victory in the revenue courts, without any authority of law; and the High Court failed to right the wrong in time, though moved several times. In these circumstances, we found it necessary to hear both the parties on the merits of the orders passed by the Commissioner of Excise and the Appellate Authority, in favour of the appellants, against which, the respondents had obtained a rule. After having heard both sides, we have come to the conclusion that no grounds have been made out for interference by the High Court, under its powers under Arts. 226 and 227 of the Constitution. This case shares the common fate of the other cases before us, of having run through the entire gamut of the hierarchy created under the Act, read along with amending Act and the rules thereunder. We do not find any grounds in the orders of the Excise Authorities which could attract the supervisory jurisdiction of the High Court, there being no error of law apparent on the face of the record, or a defect of jurisdiction in the Authorities whose orders have been impugned in the High Court. We would, however, like to make it clear that we are interfering with the interlocutory order passed by the High Court in this case because of its unusual and exceptional features. It is clear that our decision on the main points urged in the other appeals necessarily leads to the inference that, even if all the allegations made by the respondents in their petition before the Assam High Court are accepted as true, there would be no case whatever for issuing a rule. Indeed, the respondent found it difficult to resist the appellants argument that, if the other appeals were allowed on the general contentions raised by the appellants, the dismissal of his petition before the Assam High Court would be a foregone conclusion. It is because of these special circumstances that we have decided to interfere with the interlocutory order in this case in the interests of justice.

Court's decision (1 = petition accepted / positive for appellant, 0 = rejected / negative): 1

Reasoning from the judgment:
1[ds]9. It is true that no one has an inherent right to settlement of liquor shops, but when the State, by public notice, invites candidates for settlement to make their tenders, and in pursuance of such a notice, a number of persons make such tenders each one makes a claim for himself in opposition to the claims of the others, and the public authorities concerned with the settlement have to choose from amongst them. If the choice had rested in the hands of only one authority like the District Collector on his subjective satisfaction as to the fitness of a particular candidate without his orders being amenable to an appeal or appeals or revision, the position may have been different. But S. 9 of the Act has laid down a regular hierarchy of authorities, one above the other, with the right of hearing appeals or revisions. Though the Act and the rules do not, in express terms, require reasoned orders to be recorded, yet, in the context of the subject-matter of the rules, it be comes necessary for the several authorities to pass what are called speaking orders. Where there is a right vested in an authority created by statute, be it administrative or quasi-judicial, to hear appeals and revisions, it becomes its duty to hear judicially, that is to say, in an objective manner, impartially and after giving reasonable opportunity to the parties concerned in the dispute, to place their respective cases before it11. The provisions of the Act are intended to safeguard the interest of the State on the one hand; by stopping, or at any rate, checking illicit distillation, and on the other hand, by raising the maximum revenue consistently with the observance of the rules of temperance. The authorities under the Act, with Sub-divisional Officers at the bottom and the Appellate Authority at the apex of the hierarchy, are charged with those duties. The rules under the Act, and the executive instructions which have no statutory force but which are meant for the guidance of the officers concerned, enjoin upon those officers, the duty of seeing to it that shops are settled with persons of character and experience in the line, subject to certain reservations in favour of tribal population. Except those general considerations, there are no specific rules governing the grant of leases or licences in respect of liquor shops, and in a certain contingency, even drawing of lots is provided for, vide Executive Instructions 110 at p. 174 of the Manual. The words of sub-s. (3) of S. 9 as amended, set out above, vest complete discretion in the Appellate Authority, the Excise Commissioner or the District Collector, to pass such orders thereon as it or he may think fit. The sections of the Act do not make any reference to the recording of evidence or hearing of parties or even recording reasons for orders passed by the authorities aforesaid. But we have been informed at the bar that as a mater of practice, the authorities under the Act, hear counsel for the parties, and give reasoned judgments, so as to enable the higher authorities to know why a particular choice has been made. That is also apparent from the several orders passed by them in course of these few cases that are before usThus, the Excise Appellate Authority, for the purposes of cases arising under the Act, was vested with the power of the highest appellate Tribunal, even as the High Court was, in respect of the other group of cases. That does not necessarily mean that the Excise Appellate Authority was a Tribunal of coordinate jurisdiction with the High Court, or that that Authority was not amenable to the supervisory jurisdiction of High Court under Arts. 226 and 227 of the Constitution. But the juxtaposition of the two parallel highest Tribunals, one in respect of predominantly civil cases, and the other in respect of predominantly revenue cases (without attempting any clear-cut line of demarcation), would show that the Excise Appellate Authority was not altogether an administrative body which had no judicial or quasi-judicial functions13. Neither the Act nor the rule made thereunder, indicate the grounds on which the first Appellate Authority, namely, the Excise Commissioner, or the second Appellate Authority (the Excise Appellate Authority), has to exercise his or its appellate or revisional powers. There is no indication that they make any distinction between the grounds of interference on appeal and in revision. That being so, the powers of the Appellate Authorities in the matter of settlement, would be co-extensive with the powers of the primary authority, namely, the District Collector or the Sub-Divisional Officer14. Thus, on a review of the provisions of the Act and the rules framed thereunder, it cannot be said that the authorities mentioned in S. 9 of the Act, pass purely administrative orders which are beyond the ambit of the High Courts power of supervision and control. Whether or not an administrative body or authority functions as a purely administrative one or in a quasijudicial capacity, must be determined in each case, on an examination of the relevant statute and the rules framed thereunder.The first contention raised on behalf of the appellant must, therefore, be overruledis true that the Appellate Authority should not lightly set aside the selection made by the primary Authority, that is to say, a selection made by a Sub-Divisional Officer or by a District Collector, should be given due weight in view of the fact that they have much greater opportunity to know local conditions and local business people than the Appellate Authority, even as the appeal courts are enjoined not to interfere lightly with findings of fact recorded by the original courts which had the opportunity of seeing witnesses depose in court, and their demeanour while deposing in court. But it is not correct to hold that because the Appellate Authority, in the opinion of the High Court, has not observed that caution, the choice made by it, is in excess of its power or without jurisdictionAs already indicated, the rules make no provisions for the reception of evidence oral or documentary, or the hearing of oral arguments, or even for the issue of notice of the hearing to the parties concerned. The entire proceedings are marked by a complete lack of formality. The several authorities have been left to their own resources to make the best selectionIn the instant case, no such rules have been brought to our notice, which could be said to have been contravened by the Appellate Authority. Simply because it viewed a case in a particular light which may not be acceptable to another independent tribunal, is no ground for interference either under Art. 226 or Art. 227 of the ConstitutionThis court, as observed above, has settled the law in this respect by laying down that in order to attract such jurisdiction, it is essential that the error should be something more than a mere error of law; that it must be one which is manifest on the face of the record. In this respect, the law in India and the law inn England are, therefore, the same. It is also clear, on an examination of all the authorities of this Court and of those in England, referred to above, as also those considered in the several judgments of this Court, that the common-law writ, now called order of certiorari, which was also adopted by our Constitution is not meant to take the place of an appeal where the statute does not confer a right of appeal. Its purpose is only to determine, on an examination of the record, whether the inferior tribunal has exceeded its jurisdiction or has not proceeded in accordance with the essential requirements of the law which it was meant to administer. Mere formal or technical errors, even though of law, will not be sufficient to attract this extraordinary jurisdictionIt is, thus,, clear that the powers of judicial interference under Art. 227 of the Constitution with orders of judicial or quasi-judicial nature, are not greater than the powers under Art. 226 of the Constitution. Under Art. 226, the power of interference may extend to quashing an impugned order on the ground of a mistake apparent on the face of the record. But under Art. 227 of the Constitution, the power of interference is limited to seeing that the tribunal functions within the limits of its authority. Hence, interference by the High Court, in these cases either under Art. 226 or 227 of the Constitution, was not justifiedThis was a flagrant interference with the appellants rights arising out of the settlement made in their favour by the highest revenue authorities. The High Court had not and could not have authorized the dispossession of the persons rightfully in possession of the shop. The appellants brought this flagrant abuse of power to the notice of the High Court several times, but the High Court felt unduly constrained to permit the wrong to continue. We heard the learned counsel for the respondents at great length as to whether he could justify the continuance of this undesirable and unfortunate state of affairs. It has to be remembered that the appellants, as a result of fortuitous circumstances, had been deprived of the possession of the shop during the best part of the financial year 1956-57. The appellants had been deprived of the fruits of their hard-won victory in the revenue courts, without any authority of law; and the High Court failed to right the wrong in time, though moved several times. In these circumstances, we found it necessary to hear both the parties on the merits of the orders passed by the Commissioner of Excise and the Appellate Authority, in favour of the appellants, against which, the respondents had obtained a rule. After having heard both sides, we have come to the conclusion that no grounds have been made out for interference by the High Court, under its powers under Arts. 226 and 227 of the Constitution. This case shares the common fate of the other cases before us, of having run through the entire gamut of the hierarchy created under the Act, read along with amending Act and the rules thereunder. We do not find any grounds in the orders of the Excise Authorities which could attract the supervisory jurisdiction of the High Court, there being no error of law apparent on the face of the record, or a defect of jurisdiction in the Authorities whose orders have been impugned in the High Court. We would, however, like to make it clear that we are interfering with the interlocutory order passed by the High Court in this case because of its unusual and exceptional features. It is clear that our decision on the main points urged in the other appeals necessarily leads to the inference that, even if all the allegations made by the respondents in their petition before the Assam High Court are accepted as true, there would be no case whatever for issuing a rule. Indeed, the respondent found it difficult to resist the appellants argument that, if the other appeals were allowed on the general contentions raised by the appellants, the dismissal of his petition before the Assam High Court would be a foregone conclusion. It is because of these special circumstances that we have decided to interfere with the interlocutory order in this case in the interests of justice.