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TMI Blog2007 (7) TMI 354X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... High Court dismissing the Civil Writ Petition No.4036 of 2001 with Civil Application No.1583 of 2004. It was held that with reference to several judgments of this Court the writ jurisdiction should not be exercised in contractual matters. It was also held that there was no reason whatsoever for which a Government of India undertaking shall bypass the alternative remedy of a civil suit. 3. Background facts in a nutshell are as follows: A writ petition was filed by the appellant alleging inaction on the part of the City Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra Limited (hereinafter referred to as 'CIDCO') in not executing the agreement of lease with the appellant- company. Prayer in the writ petition was for a direction by issuance of an appropriate writ requiring the CIDCO to execute the agreement in respect of the possession of plots covered by the agreements. Prayer essentially was (i) to hand over the possession of plot of land admeasuring 24 hectares demarcated in favour of the appellant situated at Bhandkhal (Navghar), Taluka Uran alongwith approach road and water supply till the boundary of the said plot of land; (ii) execute a lease agreement for the period ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... India or between one or more States and the Union of India. It was not contemplated by the framers of the Constitution or CPC that two departments of a State or the Union of India will fight a litigation in a court of law. It is neither appropriate nor permissible for two departments of a State or the Union of India to fight litigation in a court of law. Indeed, such a course cannot but be detrimental to the public interest as it also entails avoidable wastage of public money and time. Various departments of the Government are its limbs and, therefore, they must act in coordination and not in confrontation. Filing of a writ petition by one department against the other by invoking the extraordinary jurisdiction of the High Court is not only against the propriety and polity as it smacks of indiscipline but is also contrary to the basic concept of law which requires that for suing or being sued, there must be either a natural or a juristic person. The States/Union of India must evolve a mechanism to set at rest all interdepartmental controversies at the level of the Government and such matters should not be carried to a court of law for resolution of the controversy. In the case of di ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ther appropriate nor permissible for two departments of a State or the Union of India to fight litigation in a court of law. Indeed, such a course cannot but be detrimental to the public interest as it also entails avoidable wastage of public money and time. Various departments of the Government are its limbs and, therefore, they must act in co- ordination and not in confrontation. Filing of a writ petition by one department against the other by invoking the extraordinary jurisdiction of the High Court is not only against the propriety and polity as it smacks of indiscipline but is also contrary to the basic concept of law which requires that for suing or being sued, there must be either a natural or a juristic person. The States/Union of India must evolve a mechanism to set at rest all inter- departmental controversies at the level of the Government and such matters should not be carried to a court of law for resolution of the controversy. In the case of disputes between public sector undertakings and Union of India, this Court in Oil and Natural Gas Commission v. Collector of Central Excise (1992 Suppl. (2) SCC 432) called upon the Cabinet Secretary to handle such matters. In Oil ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t as it entails avoidable wastage of public money and time. These are all limbs of the Government and must act in co-ordination and not confrontation. The mechanism set up by this court is not, as suggested by Mr. Andhyarujina, only to conciliate between Government Departments. It is also set up for purposes of ensuring that frivolous disputes do not come before courts without clearance from the High Powered Committee. If it can, the High Powered Committee will resolve the dispute. If the dispute is not resolved the Committee would undoubtedly give clearance. However, there could also be frivolous litigation proposed by a department of the Government or a public sector undertaking. This could be prevented by the High Powered Committee. In such cases there is no question of resolving the dispute. The Committee only has to refuse permission to litigate. No right of the Department/public sector undertaking is affected in such a case. The litigation being of a frivolous nature must not be brought to court. To be remembered that in almost all cases one or the other party will not be happy with the decision of the High Powered Committee. The dissatisfied party will always claim that its ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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