Audi Alteram Partem

Dr. Anu Prasannan

• Second long arm of NJ which protects the little
man from arbitrary administrative actions is
Audi Alteram Partem
• It means ‘hear the other side’, ‘no man should
be condemned unheard’, ‘both the sides must
be heard before passing any order’.
• While the first principle is on impartiality,
second principle deals with fairness
• While there is no code of procedural rules to
be followed by administrative bodies, it is for
the courts to articulate from case to case
• Courts do not like the idea of confining the
rules of NJ within any rigid formula
• Courts insist that what is required is fair play
in action
• Many a times a statute under which an
adjudicatory body functions may itself lay down
a procedure
• But if the statutory procedure has gaps, it may
have to be supplemented by bringing in norms
of NJ.
• Courts cannot supplant the law but can only
supplement procedure laid down in legislature
where they find it necessary to make it fair
 Three basic elements
• A person against whom an order is required to
be passed must be given an opportunity of
being heard
• Authority concerned should provide a fair and
transparent procedure
• Authority concerned must apply its mind and
dispose of the matter by a reasoned or
speaking order
 Components of fair hearing
1. Notice
-the term notice originated from the latin word ‘notifia’
which means ‘being known’
-notice is the starting point of any hearing
-only when a person knows the formulation of the subjects
and issues involved in the case he can defend himself
-it is a minimum obligatory condition
-importance of notice in adjudicatory proceedings has
been underlined by the SC in Olga Tellis v Bombay
Municipal Corpn.
a. Service of notice
A notice to be valid and effective must be
properly served on the concerned person
-K.A. Abdul Khader v Dy. Director court ruled that
notice had not been served on the concerned
person and in the absence of its service, no
proceedings could be initiated against him
-U.P Singh v Board of Governors, MACT
• b. sufficient time to reply
-it depends on the facts of each case
-Kamalakumari v Municipal Corpn. of Hyderabad
giving of merely 3days notice to the
concerned person to show cause against
demolition of a house was held to be an
inadequate notice and the notice was quashed
See K.C. Cyriac v Vice Chancellor
• c. notice to be effective must be adequate
-notice means an adequate notice and should indicate
1.Time and place of hearing
2. Specific case or allegations
3. Must not be vague
4. Must be adequate and give concerned party
enough information about issues involved.
See Joseph Vilangandan v Executive Engineer (PWD)
• d. form of notice
-statutory provision may prescribe the form in
which the notice is to be issued to the affected
party
2. Disclosure of materials to the party
-if the adjudicatory body is going to reply on any
material, evidence or document for its
decision against a party
↓
The same must be brought to his notice and he
be given an opportunity to rebut it
• Non-disclosure of materials to the affected
party has been held fatal to the validity of the
hearing proceedings
• See Kashinath Dikshita v Union of India
• The question now is the extent and content of
the information to be given to him
-it is not necessary to disclose such materials to
the party concerned which are not going to be
relied upon
-If the gist of the documents has been brought to
his notice, then the non-supply of the copies of
the same may not violate natural justice
3. Hearing/Right to present case and evidence
• Next stage is the giving of an opportunity to the
concerned party to rebut the allegations made
against him and of presenting his own case
• It varies from situation to situation
• Hearing may be oral or personal hearing
• Courts are unanimous on the point that oral
hearing is not an integral part of fair hearing
• In many instances personal hearing are
dispensed with
-See Union of India v J.P.Mitter
• However, when complex and technical qns of
lawor fact are involved fairness may dictate on
oral hearing
-Travancore Rayons v Union of India
• 4. Receiving evidence in the presence of the concerned
party
-ordinarily in oral hearing the ideal procedure is to take
evidence against the party concerned in his presence
UP Warehousing Corpn v Vijay Narayan
-However, statement of witnesses may even be recorded
in the absence of the concerned party
-No breach of NJ occurs if the gist of these statements is
supplied to him
-Refer Blaze & Central (P) Ltd. V Union of India
• There may also be circumstances when it may not be
expedient to disclose the sources of information
against the concerned party
• Thus due to some exigencies identity of the
witnesses will be kept confidential.
• For this refer Hira Nath Mishra v Rajendra Medical
College
• 36girl students of a medical college filed a report
with the principal regarding misbehavior of the boys
in the girls hostel.
• Whatever evidence collected in this case at the back
of the appellants were brought to their notice and
were provided opportunity to rebut the evidence.
5. Receiving evidence produced by the concerned
person
-the right to rebut adverse evidence presupposes that
the person has been informed about the evidence
against him
-the opportunity to rebut evidence involves
consideration of 2 factors:
a. Cross examination [read scanned copy]
-it is one of the most efficacious methods of
establishing truth and exposing falsehood
-but court asserted that right to cross examine
witnesses is not an essential part of natural justice
Refer State of J& K v Bakshi Gulam Mohammad
b. Right to Counsel
-The right of representation by a lawyer is never
considered to be part of NJ
-It cannot be claimed as a right unless the said
right is conferred by the statute
-some statutes do not permit appearance of
legal practitioners
Eg. Factory laws
• c. right of friend
-in departmental proceedings and domestic
enquiries an employee is normally allowed to
represent his case through his friend, co-
worker etc.
A K Roy v Union of India SC held that a detinue
had a right to be assisted by a friend