CCS Rules & Principles of Natural justice
1. Rules
of Natural Justice - Scope not unlimited
The
scope of the Rules of Natural Justice is not unlimited.
The
Rules of Natural Justice should not be stretched too far. Only too often the
people have done wrong seeking to invoke the rules of natural justice so as to
avoid the consequences.
[Rt.
Hon. Lord Denning]
Natural
justice prescribes only a minimum standard of fair procedurel and this minimum
cannot be bloated into a rigmarole of technicalities to vitiate the inquiry
somehow or other. To do so would not be a natural justice but on the other hand
unnatural or perverted justice.
[Bholanath
v. Management of D.T.U., SLR (1971) 2 Delhi 240.]42
2. Principles
of natural justice cannot be elevated to the position of Fundamental Rights
Though
the principles of natural justice must be given due importance, care must be
taken against any over-emphasis. These principles cannot be elevated to the
position of Fundamental Rights.
[Union
of India v. Col. J. N. Sinha 1971 SC 40.]
3. Principles
of Natural Justice - traditional English Law
The
traditional English law recognises two principles of natural justice :
(1)
Nemo Debet esse judex in propria sua causa : No man shall be a judge in
his own cause or the deciding authority must be impartial and without bias.
(2)
Audi Alteram partem : Hear the other side, or both the sides must be
heard, or no man should be condemned unheard or that there must be fairness on
the part of the deciding authority.
Due
to rapid growth of constitutional as well as administrative law, a third
principle of natural justice has been evolved;
(3)
Speaking orders or Reasoned decisions : All orders should be supported
by reasons.
4.
Four principles of Natural Justice
Case-Law
The
quintessence of the rules of natural justice in its journey through centuries
has shed much of its glories and is now crystallised into four principles of
justice namely :
(a)
opportunity for both the contending parties to be heard;
(b)
hearing before an impartial Tribunal so that no man can be judge of his own
cause;
(c)
decision made in good faith; and
(d)
an orderly course of procedure
[Saxby
and Parmer (India) Ltd. v. Third Industrial Tribunal, (1962) II LLJ 52 (56)
(Calcutta High Court).]
Sir
ReplyDeleteCase law regarding four principles of natural justice of Calcutta highcourt order emphasised well🙏