Telangana High Court
Chalasani Krishnamohan , Murali And ... vs Sunnam Nageshwara Rao on 21 February, 2024
HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE LAXMI NARAYANA ALISHETTY
CIVIL REVISION PETITION No.722 of 2023
ORDER:
This Civil Revision Petition is filed against the order dated 08.09.2022 in I.A.No.58 of 2022 in O.S.No.77 of 2022, on the file of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate and Special Assistant Agent to Government, Mobile Court, Bhadrachalam (for short 'Mobile Court').
2. I.A.No.58 of 2022 was filed by the respondent herein/plaintiff seeking to grant permanent injunction against the petitioners herein/defendants and the Mobile Court has allowed application as prayed for.
3. The impugned order dated 08.09.2022 in I.A.No.58 of 2022 in O.S.No.77 of 2022, on the file of the Mobile Court, reads as under:-
"On perusal of the material papers available on record filed by both of them and hearings of the both parties that the Petitioner / Plaintiff is in possession of the schedule property and filed pahanis and photos of the shed. The Respondents/Defendants filed Dharani online copy but both lands are not one and same as per the counter the Respondent/Defendant No.2 Purchased the land in Sy.No.370/A from Sunnam China Sammaiah but the pahanies filed by the Respondents/Defendants shows that said Survey number is stands on the name of Sunnam Peda Sammaiah, as per the photos filed by the Petitioner / Plaintiff the Respondents/Defendants land is covered by houses of Respondent/Defendant No.2 and Gudipudi Kotaiah, Narasimha Rao and pyramid etc. The Petitioner / Plaintiff is succeeded the 2 LNA, J C.R.P.No.722 of 2023 schedule house site from his father and he is in possession of the schedule property. The Petitioner / Plaintiff established prima facie case and balance of convenience is in favour of the petitioner / plaintiff at this juncture the petitioner/plaintiff is entitle for injunction order for the scheduled property."
4. Heard Sri Sandeep Kumar Bodla, learned counsel for the petitioners, and Sri Krishna Kishore Kovvuri, learned counsel for the respondent.
5. Learned counsel for the petitioners herein/defendants contended that the Mobile Court committed grave error in passing the impugned order. He further contended that the Mobile Court without taking into account the counter filed by the petitioners herein/defendants and without appreciating the facts of the case from a proper perspective passed the impugned order. Hence, they prayed to set aside the same.
6. The respondent herein/plaintiff had filed O.S.No.77 of 2022 on the file of the Special Assistant Agent to the Government Mobile Magistrate at Bhadrachalam, seeking to grant permanent injunction restraining the petitioners herein/defendants interfering with the peaceful possession and enjoyment over the suit schedule property. During the course of pending of the said O.S., the respondent herein/plaintiff has moved I.A.No.58 of 2022 seeking to grant permanent injunction against the petitioners herein/defendants. 3
LNA, J C.R.P.No.722 of 2023
7. A perusal of the record discloses that the petitioners herein, who are the respondents in the aforesaid I.A., have filed a detailed counter in I.A.No.58 of 2022 denying the averments and the allegations made by the respondent herein in the said application and sought to dismiss the said application i.e., I.A.No.58 of 2022. However, the Mobile Court, without taking into consideration the counter filed by the petitioners herein and without assigning any reasons, had passed the impugned order.
8. When application is filed seeking certain interim order in the main case and the respondents therein filed counter denying the averments and allegations in the affidavit filed in support of the said application, it is the bounden duty of the Mobile Court to take into consideration the averments made in the counter, appreciate the same on merits and thereafter, pass a reasoned order.
9. In a catena of judgments, the Hon'ble Apex Court and various High Courts held that any order passed by a Court or a quasi- judicial authority or a Tribunal shall record reasons for its conclusions.
10. The Hon'ble Supreme Court, in the case of Kranti Associates Vs. Masood Ahmed Khan - (2010) 9 SCC 496, after considering 4 LNA, J C.R.P.No.722 of 2023 various judgments, formulated certain principles, which are set out below:-
"(a) In India the judicial trend has always been to record reasons, even in administrative decisions, if such decisions affect anyone prejudicially.
(b) A quasi-judicial authority must record reasons in support of its conclusions.
(c) Insistence on recording of reasons is meant to serve the wider principle of justice that justice must not only be done it must also appear to be done as well.
(d) Recording of reasons also operates as a valid restraint on any possible arbitrary exercise of judicial and quasi-judicial or even administrative power.
(e) Reasons reassure that discretion has been exercised by the decision maker on relevant grounds and by disregarding extraneous considerations.
(f) Reasons have virtually become as indispensable a component of a decision making process as observing principles of natural justice by judicial, quasi-judicial and even by administrative bodies.
(g) Reasons facilitate the process of judicial review by superior courts.
(h) The ongoing judicial trend in all countries committed to rule of law and constitutional governance is in favour of reasoned decisions based on relevant facts. This is virtually the life blood of judicial decision- making justifying the principle that reason is the soul of justice.
(i) Judicial or even quasi-judicial opinions these days can be as different as the judges and authorities who deliver them. All these decisions serve one common purpose which is to demonstrate by reason that the relevant factors have been objectively considered. This is important for sustaining the litigants' faith in the justice delivery system.
(j) Insistence on reason is a requirement for both judicial accountability and transparency.
(k) If a judge or a quasi-judicial authority is not candid enough about his/her decision-making process then it is impossible to know whether the person deciding is faithful to the doctrine of precedent or to principles of incrementalism.5
LNA, J C.R.P.No.722 of 2023
(l) Reasons in support of decisions must be cogent, clear and succinct. A pretence of reasons or 'rubber-stamp reasons' is not to be equated with a valid decision-making process.
(m) It cannot be doubted that transparency is the sine qua non of restraint on abuse of judicial powers. Transparency in decision-making not only makes the judges and decision makers less prone to errors but also makes them subject to broader scrutiny (See David Shapiro in Defence of Judicial Candor (1987) 100 Harvard Law Review 731-737) ;
(n) Since the requirement to record reasons emanates from the broad doctrine of fairness in decision-making, the said requirement is now virtually a component of human rights and was considered part of Strasbourg Jurisprudence. See Ruiz Torija v. Spain (1994) 19 EHRR 553 at 562 para 29 and Anya v. University of Oxford [2001] EWCA Civ 405, wherein the court referred to article 6 of European Convention of Human Rights which requires, 'adequate and intelligent reasons must be given for judicial decision.'
(o) In all common law jurisdictions judgments play a vital role in setting up precedents for the future. Therefore, for development of law, requirement of giving reasons for the decision is of the essence and is virtually a part of 'due process'."
11. Following the principles laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Kranti Associates' case supra, the High Court of Gujarat in the case of Aggarwal Dyeing and Printing Works Vs. State of Gujarat and others - 2022 (2) TR 5646 observed as under:-
"At the outset, we notice that it is settled legal position of law that reasons are heart and soul of the order and non communication of same itself amounts to denial of reasonable opportunity of hearing, resulting in miscarriage of justice. This court is bound by the said judgments hereinafter referred to. The necessity of giving reason by a body or authority in support of its decision came for consideration before the Supreme Court in several cases. Initially, the Supreme Court recognized a sort of demarcation between administrative orders and quasi- judicial orders but with the passage of time the distinction between the two got blurred and thinned out and virtually reached a vanishing point in the 6 LNA, J C.R.P.No.722 of 2023 judgment of the Supreme Court in A. K. Kralpak v. Union of India (1970) 1 SCR 45. The Honourable Supreme Court vide judgments in the cases of Ravi Yashwant Bhoir v. District Collector Raigad (2012) 4 SCC 407, Sant Lal Gupta v. Modern Cooperative Group Housing Society Limited (2010) 13 SCC 336; Kranti Associates Private Limited v. Masood Ahmed Khan (2010) 9 SCC 496 and Abdul Ghaffar v. State of Bihar (2008) 3 SCC 258, has expanded the horizon of natural justice and reasons have been treated part of the natural justice. It has gone to the extent in holding that reasons are heart and soul of the order."
12. Thus, the position of law that emerges from the decision mentioned above is that assignment of reasons is imperative in nature and the speaking order doctrine mandates assigning the reason which is the heart and soul of the decision and said reasons must be the result of independent re-appreciation of evidence adduced and the documents produced in the case.
13. In the instant case, the Magistrate Court has evidently not adverted to the contentions set out in the affidavits filed in support of the aforesaid applications, as well as the contentions raised by the respondents therein in the counter and allowed the application by way of a cryptic order.
14. In the light of the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Kranti Associates's case (cited supra) and the judgment of the High Court of Gujarat in Aggarwal Dyeing and Printing Works (cited supra), it is to be held that the reasons, which are the heart and soul 7 LNA, J C.R.P.No.722 of 2023 of the order, are obviously missing in the impugned order. Therefore, the impugned order dated 08.09.2022 is unsustainable in the eye of law.
15. Further, on perusal of the order dated 08.09.2022, it reveals that though, the Mobile Court mentioned the contentions raised and documents filed by both the parties, the same had not been discussed nor reasons have been recorded for its conclusion. Further, the Mobile Court did not mark the documents filed by both the parties, which is contrary to Rules 51 and 60 of Civil Rules of Practice. This Court vide circular dated 28.09.2021, in R.O.C.No.2750/OP CELL/2021, directed the all the Judicial Officers to ensure strict adherence to Rules 51 and 60 of the Civil Rules of Practice (C.R.P) while disposing of Interlocutory Applications. The Rules 51 and 60 of the Civil Rules of Practice are extracted hereunder:
"51. Documents referred to in affidavit:
Document referred to by affidavit shall be referred to as exhibits and shall be marked in the same manner as exhibits admitted by the Court and shall bear the certificate in Form No.16 which shall be signed by the Officer before whom the affidavit is taken.
60. Proof of facts by affidavit:
Any fact required to be proved upon an interlocutory proceeding shall unless otherwise provided by these, rules, or ordered by the Court, be provided by affidavit but the Judge may, in any case, direct evidence to be given orally, and thereupon the 8 LNA, J C.R.P.No.722 of 2023 evidence shall be recorded, and exhibits marked, in the same manner as in a suit and lists of the witnesses and exhibits shall be prepared and annexed to the judgment."
The Mobile Court has not followed the circular issued by the High Court of Telangana, Hyderabad, dated 29.06.2021 and also not followed the Rule 51 and 60 of C.R.P. In the light of the above, the impugned order is liable to be set aside. Accordingly, the impugned order dated 08.09.2022 passed in I.A.No.58 of 2022 in O.S.No.77 of 2022 by the Mobile Court, is set aside
16. In the result, the Civil Revision Petition is disposed of and the matter is remitted back to the Sub-Divisional Magistrate and Special Assistant Agent to Government, Mobile Court, Bhadrchalam, with a direction to adjudicate the application-I.A.No.58 of 2022 in O.S.No.77 of 2022 afresh by taking into consideration the contentions put forth by both the parties and pass appropriate orders, in accordance with law, duly adhering to Rule 51 and 60 of C.R.P within a period of eight weeks and till then both the parties are directed to maintain status-quo. There shall be no order as to costs.
Pending miscellaneous applications, if any, shall stand closed.
___________________________________ LAXMI NARAYANA ALISHETTY, J Date: 21.02.2024 Dua 9 LNA, J C.R.P.No.722 of 2023 HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE LAXMI NARAYANA ALISHETTY CIVIL REVISION PETITION No.722 of 2023 21.02.2024 Dua