Sri. Krishna Kumar Poddar vs The Union Of India Through The Secretary
2025 Latest Caselaw 2074 Jhar

Jharkhand High Court

Sri. Krishna Kumar Poddar vs The Union Of India Through The Secretary on 28 January, 2025

Author: Deepak Roshan

Bench: Deepak Roshan

       IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
                    W.P.(C) No. 5697 of 2024
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Sri. Krishna Kumar Poddar, Aged 86, son of Late Rameshwar Lal Poddar, resident of Poddar Niket, Bariatu Road, PO & PS-Bariatu, District-Ranchi-834009, Jharkhand ... ... Petitioner Versus

1. The Union of India through the Secretary, Ministry of Mines, Room No 320, "A" Wing, Shashtri Bhawan, PO Shashtri Bhawan, PS- Paliament Street, New Delhi-110001

2. The State of Jharkhand through the Secretary, Department of Mines & Geology, Government of Jharkhand, having office at Nepal House, Doranda, PO & PS-Doranda, District-Ranchi

3. The District Mining Officer, Palamu at Medininagar, PO & PS- Medininagar, District-Palamu, Jharkhand ... ... Respondents

CORAM: HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE DEEPAK ROSHAN

For the Petitioner : Mr. Ajit Kumar, Sr. Advocate For the UOI : Mr. Prashant Pallav, DSGI Mr. Parth Jalan, AC to DSGI For the State : Mr. M. K. Dubey, AC to AG

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06/Dated: 28.01.2025

1. Counter affidavit filed by the respondents is taken on record.

2. Prima facie, the impugned order (Annexure-9 to the writ petition) dt. 23.08.2023 which is confirmed by the Revisional Authority on 05.07.2024 appears to be passed in gross violation of principles of natural justice because the basis for both of them is the demand notice dt. 02.08.2023; and in that demand notice, there is a final determination of the liability of the petitioner instead of a provisional determination, indicating a totally closed mind at the stage of issuance of the notice itself.

3. In "Oryx Fisheries Private Limited v. Union of India and Others" reported in (2010) 13 SCC 427 the Hon'ble Supreme Court has held that the quasi-judicial authority, while acting in exercise of

its statutory power must act fairly and must act with an open mind while initiating a show-cause proceeding; and that at the stage of show-cause notice, the authority cannot instead of telling to the party the charges, confront him with definite conclusions. It held that if that is done, the entire proceeding initiated by the show-cause notice gets vitiated by unfairness and bias and the subsequent proceedings become an idle ceremony.

4. The said judgment applies on all force to the instant case. Therefore, there shall be stay of all further proceedings pursuant to the demand notice dt. 02.08.2023, the order dt. 23.08.2023 and also the order dt. 05.07.2024 of the Revisional Authority.

5. Reply to I.A No. 11423 of 2024 be filed by the respondents within two weeks.

6. List this case on 12.02.2025.

(M. S. Ramachandra Rao, C.J.)

(Deepak Roshan, J.) Amit/Vedanti