“A Tainted Exercise Of Power”: Allahabad HC Imposes ₹1 Lakh Cost On District Magistrate For Blacklisting Firm Without Notice

The Allahabad High Court imposed a cost of Rs. 1,00,000/- on a District Magistrate for blacklisting a sole proprietorship firm without notice and extending the blacklisting for an indefinite period.

Ramraja Constructions, a firm through its proprietor named Jauhar Singh, filed a writ petition seeking direction against the order of the District Magistrate and quashing the same.

A Division Bench comprising Justice Anjani Kumar Mishra and Justice Jayant Banerji said, “In view of the illegal procedure adopted by the respondents in blacklisting the petitioner without notice and extending the blacklisting for an indefinite period, and that too without any statutory sanction, this Court finds that it is a tainted exercise of power by the respondents.”

Advocates Kartikeya Saran and Ujjawal Satsangi appeared on behalf of the petitioner while Standing Counsel appeared on behalf of the respondents.

Factual Background -

The contention of the petitioner was that an order of blacklisting was passed on January 24, 2020 without providing a show cause notice to the petitioner and it was blacklisted for an indefinite period. Earlier a writ petition was filed by the petitioner which was disposed of by directing the District Magistrate to consider the petitioner’s grievance and pass appropriate reasoned orders considering the request to list prospectively the blacklisting order as expeditiously as possible, preferably within a month.

By another order, the representation of the petitioner was rejected on the ground that there was no guideline specifying the period of blacklisting and the decision for blacklisting was taken at the State Government level. Being aggrieved by such order, the petitioner was before the High Court.

The High Court in the above regard observed, “Nowhere in the counter affidavit filed on behalf of the respondent nos. 1 and 2 has it been stated that any opportunity or a notice was afforded/given to the petitioner prior to passing of the order of blacklisting.”

The Court noted that the petitioner was being taken to task due to the acts of the officers and employees of the Irrigation Department.

“Moreover, despite this Court permitting the respondents to consider the grievance of the petitioner in its order dated 23.8.2023 in the aforesaid Writ-C No. 28468 of 2023, the respondents simply failed to pay any heed. … Accordingly, the petitioner shall be entitled to cost of Rs. 1,00,000/-, that shall be paid to the petitioner within a period of one month from today”, it ordered.

Accordingly, the High Court allowed the writ petition and quashed the blacklisting order.

Cause Title- Ramraja Constructions Through Its Proprietor Jauhar Singh v. State of UP and 4 Others (Neutral Citation: 2024:AHC:94730-DB)

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