Principle of Natural Justice.
The provision crafted in the doctrine of the principle of natural justice is the binding principle to all the courts, quasi-judiciary forums as well as the administrative office.
It has the following main Aspects.
- No one should be a judge in his own matter. – Nemo Judex In Causa Sua.
- No one can be condemned unheard. –Audi alteram partem
- The party is entitled to know every reason and the decision taken by the authority. – Cessante Ratione Legis Cessat Ipsa Lex., meaning “reason is the soul of the law, and when the reason of any particular law ceases, so does the law itself”
- Unreasoned Order Granting/Rejecting Bail Application raises presumption of non application of mind.-
- Any Order passed contravening statutory provisions is void ab initio.
- Judgement cannot be sustained in the absence of reasoning – SC remands matter to HC to decide afresh
- Bail order must be backed by reasons considering vital aspects– SC sets aside “Casual & Criptic Order
Any order or judgment passed violating the principles of natural justice is considered ab initio void.
The same is also held in the judgement of ;
- Uma Nath Pandey & Ors. Vs State of UP, 2007
- Vishnu Agarwal Vs State of UP, 2011
- Recall Application
- Siemens Engineering VS UOI, 1976
- Mahipa Vs Rajesh Kumar, Criminal Appeal No.1843 of 2019
- State Project Director…. Vs Saroj Maurya, Civil Appela No.3465 of 2023
- Authority or court Not to pass unreasoned order/judgment
- Unreasoned judgment presumes nonapplication of mind.
- Judgment cannot be sustained in the absence of reasoning.
- Manoj Kumar Khokhar Vs State of Rajasthan, 2022
- Not to pass cryptic order/judgment.
Cessante Ratione Legis Cessat Ipsa Lex., meaning “reason is the soul of the law, and when the reason of any particular law ceases, so does the law itself”
- Mukesh Singh Vs State of NCT Delhi, 2020
- No one shall be a judge in his case: Nemo Debet Esse Judex in Propria Causa.
- Bias in the Investigation by the Police where he is a complainant.
- G.P.Srivastava Vs R.K.Raizada & Ors. SC-2020
- Justice can only be achieved if a defendant is given a reasonable opportunity to prove his case.
- in Nirma Industries Ltd. v. Securities and Exchange Board of India and State of UP v. Sudhir Kumar Singh and Dharampal Satyapal Ltd v. Deputy Commissioner of Central Excise, Gauhati and Others wherein, it was observed that ‘the principle of natural justice means, a fair hearing should be given to the concerned person and the same would not necessarily imply oral hearing’,
- State of Odisha Vs Sulekh Chandra Pradhan, Civil Appeal No.3036-3064 of 2022, SC
- Any order passed in contravention of statutory provisions is VOID AB INITIO: SC
Exception to the National Justice;
- Empty Formality Theory.
- In some cases, the Supreme Court had held that if the
Admitted and indisputable facts only one conclusion is possible and under the law only one penalty is permissible court may not compel the observance of natural justice. - The law on the point is very well-settled that where the conclusion is controversial, natural justice with all its rigours is indispensable.