Dr.

SHAKUNTALA MISRA NATIONAL REHABILITATION UNIVERSITY

Lucknow

Faculty of Law

ASSIGNMENT ON

( ADMINISTRATIVE LAW)

[Principal of Natural justice]

Submitted by

Harsh Savita

( 6th Semester)
Academic Session: 2020-21

Under the Supervision of

Mr. Mukesh Gautam

Faculty of law

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:-

First and foremost, I am thankful to Mr. Mukesh Gautam for allotting me the topic “ Principal
of Natural justice”. He has been very kind in providing inputs for this work, by way of
suggestions materials.

I would also like to thank my dear colleagues and friends in the university, who have helped
me with ideas about this work. Last, but not the least I thank the University Administration
for equipping the university with such good library and internet facilities, without which, no
doubt this work would not have taken the shape in correct time.

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INDEX

1. Introduction.
2. Historical development.
3. Principal of natural justice.
4. Nemo judex causa sua.
5. Types of Bias.
6. Exception to rule against bias.
7. Audi alterm partem.
8. Case law.
9. Conclusion.
10. Bibliography.

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Introduction:-

Principle of Natural Justice is derived from the word ‘Jus Natural’ of the Roman law and it is
closely related to Common law and moral principles but is not codified. It is a law of nature
which is not derived from any statute or constitution. The principle of natural justice is
adhered to by all the citizens of civilised. State with Supreme importance. In the ancient days
of fair practice, at the time when industrial areas ruled with a harsh and rigid law to hire and
fire, the Supreme court gave its command with the passage of duration and establishment of
social, justice and economy statutory protection for the workmen. Natural justice simply
means to make a sensible and reasonable decision making procedure on a particular issue.
Sometimes, it doesn’t matter what is the reasonable decision but in the end, what matters is
the procedure and who all are engaged in taking the reasonable decision. It is not restricted
within the concept of ‘fairness’ it has different colours and shades which vary from the
context. Principles of natural justice which are judge-made rules and still continue to be a
classical example of judicial activism were developed by the courts to prevent accidents in
the exercise of outsourced power of adjudication entrusted to the administrative authorities.
In India there is no statute laying down the minimum procedure which administrative
agencies must follow while exercising decision-making powers. There is, therefore, a
bewildering variety of administrative procedure. Sometimes the statute under which the
administrative agency excrcises power lays down the procedure which the administrative
agency must follow,' but at times the administrative agency is left free to devise its own
procedure. However, courts have always insisted that the administrative administrative
agency must follow a minimum of fair procedure. This minimum fair procedure refers to the
principles of natural justice1. Natural Justice is an important concept in administrative law.
The principles of natural justice of fundamental rules of procedure are the preliminary basis
of a good administrative set up of any country. The concept and doctrine of Principles of
Natural Justice and its application in Justice delivery system is not new. It has its place since
the beginning of justice delivery system. Natural justice is an expression of English common
law, which involves a procedural requirement of fairness. It is an important concept in
administrative law. In the words of Justice Krishna Iyer Natural justice is a pervasive fact of
secular law where a spiritual touch enlivens legislation, legislation and adjudication to make
fairness a creed of life. It has many colour and shades, many forms and shapes. It is no
doubt, a procedural requirement but it
ensures a strong safeguard against any Judicial or administrative; order or action, adversely
affecting the substantive rights of the individuals. Different jurists have described the
principle in different ways. Some called it as the unwritten law (jus non scriptum) or the law
of reason. It has, however not been found to be capable of being defined, but some jurists
have described the principle as a great humanising principle intended to invest law with
fairness to secure justice and to prevent miscarriage of justice. With the passage of time,some
principles have evolved and crystallised which are well recognized principles of natural
1
Administrative law, I.P.Massey page. No. 187.

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justice. Natural Justice is an important concept in administrative law. The term natural justice
signifies basic principles of justice, which are made available to everyone litigant during trial.
Principles of natural justice are founded on reason and enlightened public policy. These
principles are adopted to circumstances of all cases. Such principles are applicable to
decisions of all governmental agencies, tribunals and judgments of all courts. In the present
world the importance of principle of natural justice has been gaining its strength and it is now
the essence of any judicial system. Natural justice rules are not codified laws. It is not
possible to define precisely and scientifically the expression ‘natural justice’. They are
basically common – sense justice which are built- in the conscience of human being. They are
based on natural ideals and values which are universal in nature. ‘ Natural justice’ and ‘legal
justice’ are substances of ‘justices’ which must be secured by both, and whenever legal
justice fails to achieve this purpose, natural justice has to be called in aid of legal justice.
Rules of natural justice have developed with the growth of civilization. It is not the creation
of Constitution or mankind. It originated along with human history. In order to protect
himself against the excess of organized power, man has always appealed to someone which is
not been created by him and such someone could only be God and His laws, Divine law or
Natural law, to which all temporal laws must and actions must conform. It is of ‘higher law
of nature’ or ‘natural law’ which implies fairness, reasonableness, equity and equality.

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT:-

The principle of natural justice is a very old concept and it originated at an early age. The
people of Greek and roman were also familiar with this concept. In the days of Kautilya,
arthashastra and Adam were acknowledged the concept of natural justice. According to the
Bible, in the case of Eve and Adam, when they ate the fruit of knowledge, they were
forbidden by the god. Before giving the sentence, eve was given a fair chance to defend
himself and the same process was followed in the case of Adam too. Later on, the concept of
natural justice was accepted by the English jurist. The word natural justice is derived from the
Roman word ‘jus-naturale’ and ‘lex-naturale’ which planned the principles of natural justice,
natural law and equity.“Natural justice is a sense of what is wrong and what is right.”
In India, this concept was introduced at an early time. In the case of Mohinder Singh Gill vs.
Chief Election Commissioner2, the court held that the concept of fairness should be in every
action whether it is judicial, quasi-judicial, administrative and or quasi-administrative work.

PRINCIPLES OF NATURAL JUSTICE:-

The principles of natural justice are those rules which have been laid down by the courts as
being minimum protection of the rights of the individual against the arbitrary procedure that
may be adopted by a judicial, quisi-judicial and administrative authority while making an
order affecting those rights.

Frank Committee or the committee on Minister’s Power has laid down the following norms
2
1978 AIR 851, 1978 SCR (3) 272

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of natural justice:
1. No man should be condemned unheard,
2. No man shall be judge in his own cause,
3. A party is entitled to know the reasons for the decision,
4. Making available a copy of statutory report.

However the traditional English law recognises two principles of natural justice:
A.NEMO JUDEX IN CAUSA SUA
B.AUDI ALTERAM PARTERM

A.NEMO JUDEX IN CAUSA SUA:-

The literal meaning of the Latin maxim ‘NEMO JUDEX IN CAUSA SUA is that 'No man
shall be a judge in his own cause' i.e. to say, the deciding authority must be impartial and
without bias. It implies that no man can act as a judge for a cause in which he has some
Interest, may be pecuniary or otherwise. Bias means an operative prejudice, whether
conscious or unconscious, in relation to a party or issue. Such operative prejudice may be the
result of a preconceived opinion or a predisposition or a predetermination to decide a case in
a particular manner so much so that it does not leave the mind open. Pecuniary interest
affords the strongest proof against impartiality. The emphasis is on the objectivity in dealing
with and deciding a matter. Justice Gajendragadkar, has observed in the case of M/S Builders
Supply Corporation v. The Union of India and others 3, itt is obvious that pecuniary interest,
howsoever small it may be, In a subject matter of the proceedings, would wholly disqualify a
member from acting as a judge". Lord Hardwick observed in one of the cases, “In a matter of
so tender a nature, even the appearance of evil is to be avoided." Yet it has been laid down as
principle of law that pecuniary interest would disqualify a Judge to decide the matter even
though it is not proved that the decision was in anyway affected. This is thus a matter of faith,
which a common man must have, in the deciding authority. The principle is applicable in
such cases also where the deciding authority has some personal Interest in the matter other
than pecuniary Interest. This may be in the shape of some personal relationship with one of
the parties or ill will against any of them. In one of the cases order of punishment was held to
be vitiated, as the officer who was in the position of a complainant/accuser/witness, could not
act as an enquiry officer or punishing authority. There may be a possibility, consciously or
unconsciously to uphold as Enquiry Officer what he alleges against the delinquent officer. In
one of the selections, which was held for the post of Chief Conservator of Forest, one of the
members of the Board was himself a candidate for the post. The whole process of selection
was held to be vitiated as the member would be a judge in his own cause.

TYPES OF BIAS:-

1.Personal Bias.
2.Pecuniary Bias.

3
AIR 1965 SC 1061.

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3.Subject matter Bias.
4.Departmental Bias.
5.Policy notion Bias.
6.Bias on the account of obstinacy.

1.Personal bias:

Personal bias arises from a relation between the party and deciding authority. Which lead the
deciding authority in a doubtful situation to make an unfair activity and give judgement in
favour of his person. Such equations arise due to various forms of personal and professional
relation bias. In order to challenge the administrative action successfully on the ground of
personal bias, it is necessary to give a reasonable reason for bias. Supreme court held that one
of the members of the panel of selection committee his brother was a candidate in the
competition but due to this, the whole procedure of selection cannot be quashed .Here, to
avoid the act of biases at the turn of his brother respective panel member connected with the
candidate can be requested to go out from the panel of the selection committee. So, a fair and
reasonable decision can be made.

2.Pecuniary bias:

If any of the judicial body has any kind of financial benefit, how so ever small it may be will
lead to administrative authority to biases.

3.Subject matter bias:

When directly or indirectly the deciding authority is involved in the subject matter of a
particular case. Muralidhar vs. Kadam Singh The court refused to quash the decision of
Election tribunal on the ground that the chairman’s wife was a member of Congress party
whom the petitioner defeated.

4.Departmental bias:
The problem or issue of departmental bias is very common in every administrative process
and it is not checked effectively and on every small interval period it will lead to negative
concept of fairness will get vanished in the proceeding.

5.Policy notion bias:

Issues arising out of preconceived policy notion is a very dedicated issue. The audience
sitting over there does not expect judges to sit with a blank sheet of paper and give a fair trial
and decision over the matter.

6.Bias on the account of the obstinacy:

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Supreme court has discovered new criteria of biases through the unreasonable condition. This
new category emerged from a case where a judge of Calcutta High Court upheld his own
judgement in appeal. A direct violation of the rules of bias is done because no judge can sit in
appeal against in his own case4

EXCEPTION TO THE RULE AGAINST BIAS:-

Doctrine of Necessity:-

The doctrine of necessity is an exception to ‘Bias’. The law permits certain things to be done
as a matter of necessity which it would otherwise not countenance on the touchstone of
judicial propriety. The doctrine of necessity makes it imperative for the authority to decide
and considerations of judicial propriety must yield. It can be invoked in cases of bias where
there is no authority to decide the issue. If the doctrine of necessity is not allowed full play in
certain unavoidable situations, it would impede the course of justice itself and the defaulting
party would benefit from it. If the choice is between either to allow a biased person to act or
to stifle the action altogether, the choice must fall in favour of the former as it is the only way
to promote decision-making. Where bias is apparent but the same person who is likely to be
biased has to decide, because of the statutory requirements or the exclusiveness of a
competent authority to decide, the Courts allow such person to decide. In Ashok Kumar
Yadav vs. Haryana5, the Court held that a member of the Public Service Commission could
not entirely disassociate himself from the process of selection just because a few candidates
were related to him. He should disassociate himself with the selection of the persons who are
related to him, but need not disassociate with the selection of other candidates. Though his
presence on the selection committee could create a likelihood of bias in favour of his
relations yet, since the PSC is a constitutional authority, such a member cannot be excluded
from its work and his presence in the recruitment process is mandatorily required. The Court
further held that where substitution is possible, this doctrine would not apply.

Doctrine of Absolute Necessity:-

The doctrine of ‘absolute necessity’ is also taken as an exception to ‘Bias’ where it is

absolutely necessary to decide a case of Bias and there is no other option left.

B.AUDI ALTERAM PARTEM:-

It simply includes 3 Latin word which basically means that no person can be condemned or
punished by the court without having a fair opportunity of being heard.

4
http://www.legalservicesindia.com/article/1528/Origin-and-Development-of-Principles-of-Natural-
Justice.html#:~:text=It%20is%20said%20that%20principles,known%20to%20Greek%20and
%20Romans.&text=According%20to%20the%20Bible%2C%20when,called%20upon%20to%20defend
%20himself.
5
AIR 1987 SC 454.

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In many jurisdictions, a bulk of cases are left undecided without giving a fair opportunity of
being heard.

The literal meaning of this rule is that both parties should be given a fair chance to present
themselves with their relevant points and a fair trial should be conducted.

This is an important rule of natural justice and its pure form is not to penalize anyone without
any valid and reasonable ground. Prior notice should be given to a person so he can prepare
to know what all charges are framed against him. It is also known as a rule of fair hearing.
The components of fair hearing are not fixed or rigid in nature. It varies from case to case and
authority to authority.

1.Issuance of notice-Valid and proper notice should be given to the required parties of the
matter to further proceed with the procedure of fair trial method. Even if the statute does not
include the provision of issue of notice then it will be given prior to making decisions.

In the case of Kanda vs. Government of Malaya, the court held that notice must directly and
clearly specify on the matter of bias, facts and circumstances against which needs to be taken.
It’s one of the rights of the individual to defend himself so he should be familiar with the
relevant matter so he may contradict the statement and safeguard himself.

The notice should be with regard to the charges framed against the accused person and
proceeding to be held. He can only be punished on the charges which are mentioned in the
notice, not for any other charges.

2.Right to present the case and evidence– After receiving the notice he must be given a
reasonable time period to prepare and present his case in a real and effective manner. The
refusal should not be done on the unreasonable ground or due to arbitrary.

3.Right to Cross Examination– Right of fair hearing includes the right to cross-examination
the statement made by the parties. If tribunals denied the right to cross-examination then it
will violate the principles of natural justice. And all the necessary copies of documents
should be given and failure of that will also encroach the principle. The department should
make available officers who are involved in the procedure of investigating and do cross-
examination. Cross-examination is defined under Section 137 of the Indian Evidence Act,
1872 (amended).

Let’s take an illustration, In the matter where lawyer and client are involved so, nobody can
force a lawyer to reveal what all information is given by the client to the lawyer in relation to
the case.
In the case of Ludhiana food product, the court held that If the party itself refuse to cross-
examine the witness then it will not fall under miscarriage of natural justice.

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4.Right of Legal representative– In the process of enquiry, every party has the right to have a
legal representative. Each party will be presented by the legally trained person and no one can
deny (A.K.Roy). Similarly, the department has the same right to direct its officer even though
there are investigating officer in conducting an adjudicating proceeding.

Exceptions:-

1.During the Emergency period.

2.Public interest.
3.Express statutory provision.
4.Nature of the case is not of a serious kind.
5.If it doesn’t affect the status of the individual.

CASE LAWS:-

Mankea Gandhi v Union of India6

This is landmark judgement on this point and was instrumental in introducing the concept
of Post Decision Hearing in Indian Legal Jurisprudence. The petitioner was provided with a
notice by the Regional Passport Office, Delhi to submit the passport within seven days of her
receiving the notice. The decision was made by the Government of India under Section10(3)
(c) of Passport Act,1967 on the ground of Public Interest. The petitioner immediately asked
the Passport Office to furnish the grounds on which her passport is impounded upon as
provided under Section 10(5), the Government refused to provide the same stating in the
interest of the general public, they will not provide the reasons for this order. The petitioner
filed a writ petition challenging the order passed by the Government. The argument presented
by the Attorney General regarding the applicability of Audi alteram partem was rejected by
the Court. The court stated that is necessary for the authorities to comply by the principle of
Natural Justice and an opportunity to be heard must be provided to the petitioner before
passing any final order. Court held that procedure established by section 10(3)(c) of Passport
Act, 1967 is in conformity with the requirement of Article 21. The Act provides the ground
on which the passport could be impounded and this procedure was comprehensively
recognized by the Court. Finally the court did not pass any order as assurance was provided
by the Attorney General to provide the petitioner with the opportunity to present her views
within two weeks (Post Decisional Hearing) and prior to the taking of final decision
authorities will consider the views given by the petitioner. Hence first time in Indian Legal
Jurisprudence the concept to Audi Alteram Partem was evolved.

Swadeshi Cotton Mills vs. Union Of India7

6
1978 SCR (2) 621.
7
1981 SCR.

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In 1978, Swadeshi Cotton Mills was taken over by the Government through the Industries
(Development and Regulation) Act, 1951 on the ground that the production of articles will be
drastically reduced and immediate action is required to protect it. The management was
handed over to National Textile Corporation Limited for a term of five years. The act
provides the Centre Government with the power to issue orders regarding any public limited
industry which is not been able to function properly. The company decided to file a writ
petition in Delhi High Court against the Government’s order. The High Court upheld the
order of government. The appellant than filed a revision petition before Supreme Court. The
court reversed the decision of High Court and held that Section 18AA does not exclude the
rule of audi alteram partem at pre decisional stage The court recognized the principle of Post
Decisional Hearing and held that in certain situations it is not possible to give prior notice or
opportunity to be heard, in such circumstances the authorities may take the necessary
decisions but it must be followed by a full remedial hearing. Regarding the judicial review of
the order Apex Court differed from the respondent and stated that taking immediate action is
the question of fact and therefore court can interfere if the administration is not reasonable in
its approach as they form their opinion by collecting evidences. Post decisional hearing does
not exclude the rule of pre decisional hearing unless specifically prescribed by the act. And in
this case the Government has violated the Principle of Natural Justice by not providing an
opportunity to be heard.

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CONCLUSION:-

The principles of natural justice have been adopted and followed by the judiciary to protect
public rights against the arbitrary decision by the administrative authority. It is supreme to
note that any decision or order which violates the natural justice will be declared as null and
void in nature, hence one must carry in mind that the principles of natural justice are essential
for any administrative settlement to be held valid. TheThe principles of natural justice should
be free from bias and parties should be given fair opportunity to be heard and all the reasons
and decision taken by the court should be informed by the court to the respective parties.
SupremeSupreme court said that arriving at a reasonable and justifiable judgement is the
purpose of judicial and administrative bodies. The main purpose of natural justice is to
prevent the act of miscarriage of justice.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY:-

1.Adminstrative law , I.P. Massey.

2. https://www.scconline.com/blog/post/tag/section-230-of-companies-act/
3. https://www.scconline.com/blog/post/tag/section-230-of-companies-act/
4.https://blog-ipleaders-in.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/blog.ipleaders.in/natural-justice/amp/?
amp_js_v=a6&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D
%3D#aoh=16260208200919&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From
%20%251%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fblog.ipleaders.in%2Fnatural-justice%2F

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