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TMI Blog1969 (4) TMI 103X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... med thereunder. Hence they have moved this Court to quash notification No. 3/24/66-A-15(IV) dated the 29th July 1967 issued by the Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs, as according to them the selections notified in the said notification are violative of Arts. 14 and 16 of the Constitution and on the further ground that the selections in question are vitiated by the contravention of the principles of natural justice. They are also challenging the vires of s. 3 of the All India Services Act, rule 4 of the rules framed under that Act and Regulation 5 of the Indian Forest Service (Initial Recruitment) Regulations 1966, framed under the aforementioned rule 4. Section 2(A) of the All India Services Act, 1951 authorises the Central Government to constitute three new All India Services including the Indian Forest Service. Section 3 provides that the Central Government shall after consulting the Government of the States concerned including that of the State of -Jammu and Kashmir to make rules for the regulation of recruitment and the conditions of service of persons appointed to those All India Services. Sub-s. (2) of S. 2 prescribes that all rules made under that section "shall ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and who are adjudged by the Board suitable for appointment to posts in the senior and junior scales of the Service. (2) The list prepared in accordance with sub-regulation (1) shall then be referred to the Commission for advice, by the Central Government along with :- (a) the records of all officers of State Forest Service included in the list; (b) the records of all other eligible officers of the State Forest Service who are not adjudged suitable for inclusion in the list, together with the reasons as recorded by the Board for their non-inclusion in the list; and (c) the observations, if any, of the Ministry of Home Affairs on the recommendations of the Board. 3. On receipt of the list, along with the other documents received from the Central Government the Commission shall forward its recommendations to that Government." Regulation 6 stipulates that the officers recommended by the Commission under sub-r. (3) of Regulation 5 shall be appointed to the service by the Central Government subject to the availability of vacancies in the State cadre concerned. In pursuance of the Regulation mentioned above, the Central Government constituted a special selection board for selectin ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ad appealed to the State Government against his supersession and that appeal was pending with the State Government at the time the impugned selections were made. M. I. Baig and A. N. Kaul Conservators of Forests also claim that they are seniors to Naqishbund but that fact is denied by Naqishbund. Kaul had also appealed against his alleged supersession but it is alleged that appeal had been rejected by the State Government. Naqishbund was also one of the candidates seeking to be selected to the All India Forest Service. We were told and we take it to be correct that he did not sit in the selection board at the time his name was considered for selection but admittedly he did sit in the board and participate in its deliberations when the names of Basu, Baig and Kaul, his rivals, were considered for selection. It is further admitted that he did participate in the deliberations of the board while preparing the list of selected candidates in order of preference, as required by Regulation 5. The selection board was undoubtedly a high powered body. That much was conceded by the learned Attorney-General who appeared for the Union Government as well as the State Government. It is true that ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... that the power in question was exercised by a statutory body and a wrong exercise of that power is likely to affect adversely the careers of the officers not selected. On the other hand it was contended by the learned Attorney-General that though the selection board was a statutory body, as it was not required to decide about any right, the proceedings before it cannot be considered quasijudicial; its duty was merely to select officers who in its opinion were suitable for being absorbed in the Indian Forest Service. According to him the word 'adjudge' in rule 4 as well as Regulation 5 means "found worthy of selection". The dividing line between an administrative power and a quasi-judicial power is quite thin and is being gradually obliterated. For determining whether a power is an administrative power or a quasi-judicial power one has to look to the nature of the power conferred, the person or persons on whom it is conferred, the framework of the law conferring that power, the consequences ensuing from the exercise of that power and the manner in which that power is expected to be exercised. Under our Constitution the rule of law pervades over the entire field of administration. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... mmediate or subsequent rights of a citizen were affected. The only constant limits throughout were that it was performing -a public duty. Private or domestic tribunals have always been outside the scope of certiorari since their authority is derived solely from contract, that is, from the agreement of the parties concerned. Finally, it is to be observed that the remedy has now been extended, see Reg. v. Manchester Legal Aid Committee, Ex parte R. A. Brand & Co. Ltd.( [1952] 2 Q.B. 413) to cases in which the decision of an administrative officer is only arrived at after an inquiry or process of a judicial or quasi-judicial character. In such a case this court has jurisdiction to supervise that process. We have as it seems to me reached the position when the ambit of certiorari can be said to cover every case in which a body of persons of a public as opposed to a purely private or domestic character has to determine matters affecting subjects provided always that it has a duty to act judicially. Looked at in this way the board in my judgment comes fairly and squarely, within the jurisdiction of this court. It is as Mr. Bridge said, 'a servant of the Crown charged by the Crown, by e ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ly that of Basu was considered. He was also party to the preparation of the list of selected candidates in order of preference. At every stage of this participation in the deliberations of the selection board there was a conflict between his interest and duty. Under those circumstances it is difficult to believe that he could have been impartial. The real question is not whether he was biased. It is difficult to prove the state of mind of a person. Therefore what we have to see is whether there is reasonable ground for believing that he was likely to have been biased. We agree with the learned Attorney General that a mere suspicion of bias is not sufficient. There must be a reasonable likelihood of bias. In deciding the question of bias we have to take into consideration human probabilities and ordinary course of human conduct. It was in the interest of Naqishbund to keen out his rivals in order to secure his position from further challenge. Naturally he was also interested in safeguarding his position while preparing the list of selected candidates. The members of the selection board other than Naqishbund, each one of them separately, have filed affidavits in this Court swearing ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nt know what his immediate impression is so that the immigrant can disabuse him. That is not, as I see it, a question of acting or being required to act judicially, but of being required to act fairly. Good administration and an honest or bona fide decision must, as it seems to me, require not merely impartiality, nor merely bringing one's mind to bear on the problem, but acting fairly; and to the limited extent that the circumstances of any particular case allow, and within the legislative frame work under which the administrator is working, only to that limited extent do the so-called rules of natural justice apply, which in a case such as this is merely a duty to act fairly. I appreciate that in saying that it may be said that one is going further than is permitted on the decided cases because heretofore at any rate the decisions of the courts do seem to have drawn a strict line in these matters according to whether there is or is not a duty to act judicially or quasi-judicially." In the same case Blain, J. observed thus "I would only say that an immigration officer having assumed the jurisdiction granted by those provisions is ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... inapplicable to administrative enquiries. Often times it is not easy to draw the line that demarcates administrative enquiries from quasi-judicial enquiries. Enquiries which were considered administrative at one time are now being considered as quasijudicial in character. Arriving at a just decision is the aim of both quasijudicial enquiries as well as administrative enquiries. An unjust decision in an administrative enquiry may have more far reaching effect than a decision in a quasi-judicial enquiry. As observed by this Court in Suresh Koshy George v. The University of Kerala and Ors. ([1969] 1 S.C.R. 317) the rules of natural justice are not embodied rules. What particular rule of natural justice should apply to a given case must depend to a great extent on the facts and circumstances of that case, the framework of the law under which the enquiry is held and the constitution of the Tribunal or body of persons appointed for that purpose. Whenever a complaint is made before a court that some principle of natural justice had been contravened the court has to decide whether the observance of that was necessary for a just decision on the facts of that case. It was next urged by the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... itors. As mentioned earlier in this case we are essentially concerned with the question whether the decision taken by the board can be considered as having been taken fairly and justly. One more argument of the learned Attorney-General remains to be considered. He urged that even if we are to hold that Naqishbund should not have participated in the deliberations of the selection board while it considered the suitability of Basu, Baig and Kaul, there is no ground to set aside the selection of other officers. According to him it will be sufficient in the interest of justice if we direct that the cases of Basu, Baig and Kaul be reconsidered by a Board of which Naqishbund is not a member. Proceeding further he urged that under any circumstance no case is made out for disturbing the selection of the officers in the junior scale. We are unable to accept either of these contentions. As seen earlier Naqishbund was a party to the preparation of the select list in order of preference and that he is shown as No. 1 in the list. To that extent he was undoubtedly a judge in his own case, a circumstance which is abhorrent to our concept of justice. Now coming to the selection of the officers in t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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