Content Provider | Supreme Court of India |
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e-ISSN | 30484839 |
Language | English |
Access Restriction | NDLI |
Subject Keyword | Administrative law: Doctrine of pleasure - Judicial review |
Content Type | Text |
Resource Type | Law Judgement |
Jurisdiction | India |
Case Type | Appeal |
Court | Supreme Court of India |
Disposal Nature | Appeal Allowed |
Headnote | Administrative law: Doctrine of pleasure - Judicial review - Scope of - Termination of Armed Forces Personnel - Held: The order of termination passed against the Army personnel in exercise of pleasure doctrine is subject to judicial review - But while exercising judicial review, the Supreme Court cannot substitute its own conclusion on the basis of material on record - When the President in exercise of its constitutional power terminates the services of the Army officers, whose tenure of services are at the pleasure of the President and such termination is based on materials on record, then the Court in exercise of powers of judicial review should be slow in interfering with such pleasure of President exercising constitutional power - Analysis of entire facts of the case and the material produced in Court and an exhaustive consideration of the matter showed that the power of pleasure exercised by the President in terminating the services of the respondents did not suffer from any illegality, bias or malafide or based on any other extraneous ground, and the same cannot be challenged on the ground that it was a camouflage - The onus lay on the respondent-officers who alleged malafides - There was no credible evidence to hold that the order of termination was baseless or malafide - Constitution of India, 1950 - Doctrine of pleasure. Constitution of India, 1950: Art. 311 - Applicability to Armed Forces Personnel - Held: Not applicable - Therefore, no enquiry as to whether the order was by way of punishment sine qua non for applicability of Art.311, was warranted. Art.310(1)- Scope of- Held: No provision in any statute can curtail the provision of Art.310. Army Act, 1959: ss.18 and 19 - Held: Army Act cannot in any way override or stand higher than constitutional provisions contained in Art.309 and consequently no provision of Army Act could cut down the pleasure doctrine as enshrined in Art.310 - Constitution of India, 1950 - Arts.309, 310 - Doctrine of pleasure. s. 18 - Where continuance of Army officers in service is not practicable for security purposes and there is loss of confidence and potential risk to the security issue then such officers can be removed under pleasure doctrine - s. 18 is in consonance with constitutional power conferred on President Empowering the President to terminate his services brought to his notices - In such cases, the Army officers are not entitled to claim an opportunity of hearing - Constitution of India, 1950-Arts.309, 310- Doctrine of pleasure - Doctrine of natural justice. Res judicata: Reopening of issues through fresh round of litigation on discovery of a fact - Held: The discovery of a re-investigated fact could be a ground of review in the same proceedings, but the same cannot be made basis for re-opening the issue through a fresh round of litigation - A fresh writ petition or Letters Patent Appeal which is in continuation of a writ petition cannot be filed colaterally to set aside the judgment of the same High Court rendered in earlier round of litigation H upholding the termination order - The principle of finality of litigation is based on a sound firm principle of public policy - It is not permissible for the parties to reopen the concluded judgments of the court as it would not only tantamount to merely an abuse of the process of the court but would have far reaching adverse affect on the administration of justice - It would also nullify the doctrine of stare decisis which cannot be departed from unless there are compelling circumstances to do so - The judgments of the court and particularly the Apex Court of a country cannot and should not be unsettled lightly - Doctrines of public policy - Doctrine of stare decisis. Precedent: Binding effect of - Held: Law declared by Supreme Court, being the law of the land, is binding on all courts/tribunals and authorities in India in view of Art. 141 of the Constitution - The doctrine of stare decisis promotes a certainty and consistency in judicial decisions and promotes confidence of the people in the system of the judicial administration - Judicial propriety and decorum demand that the law laid down by the highest Court of the land must be given effect to - Violation of Fundamental Rights guaranteed under the Constitution have to be protected, but at the same time, it is the duty of the court to ensure that the decisions rendered by the court are not overturned frequently, that too, when challenged collaterally as that was directly affecting the basic structure of the Constitution incorporating the power of judicial review of this Court - An issue of law can be overruled later on, but a question of fact or, as in the instant case, the dispute with regard to the termination of services cannot be reopened once it has been finally sealed in proceedings inter-se between the parties up to the Supreme Court way back in 1980 - Constitution of India, 1950 - Art.141. |
Judge | Hon'ble Mr. Justice M.Y. Eqbal |
Neutral Citation | 2014 INSC 172 |
Petitioner | Union Of India And Others |
Respondent | Major S.p. Sharma And Others |
SCR | [2014] 4 S.C.R. 327 |
Judgement Date | 2014-03-06 |
Case Number | 2951-2957 |
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