Statutory Authorities Must Pass Final Orders Within 30 Days From Date Of Concluding Hearing In Appeals & Revisions: Kerala HC

The Kerala High Court directed that the statutory authorities should pass final orders within thirty days from the date of concluding hearing in appeals, revisions and other statutory proceedings.

The Court was deciding a writ petition relating to a strange case in which a statutory authority took six months to pass an order in an appeal after concluding the hearing of the parties in the appeal.

A Single Bench of Justice P.V. Kunhikrishnan said, “As I mentioned earlier, in this case, after hearing the parties on 23.11.2017, the appellate authority passed Ext.P8 order on 07.06.2018. If this practice is continued, there will be far reaching consequences and the faith of the public in the decision making by the statutory authorities will be lost. Therefore, I am of the considered opinion that the statutory authorities while passing final orders in appeal, revision and other proceedings after conclusion of hearing, a time limit should be followed.”

Advocate Jomy George represented the petitioner while Government Pleader B.S. Syamantak represented the respondents.

Brief Facts -

The petitioner was the owner of a land and according to him, the illegal mining of red earth was being carried out in the properties near his property with which he had no connection. The tipper lorries of the persons carrying on the illegal mining were parked in his property, waiting their turn to load the red earth. As per the petitioner, he was doing only agricultural operations in the property. The District Collector directed the Department of Geology to ascertain whether any red earth was removed from the petitioner’s property and if so, to levy and collect the royalty and fine amount for the same from him. Though in Mahazar, the allegation was that red earth was removed from the petitioner’s property, the District Collector stated that quarrying was done regarding laterite stone also.

The petitioner submitted that there was no finding that he had excavated or done any mining operating in his property. The Collector passed an order on the presumption that since Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) seized the vehicles from the petitioner’s property, there was mining in the same. According to the petitioner, the RDO was not the competent authority for seizing and confiscating the vehicles and entire proceedings initiated against him were illegal and void. Subsequently, Geologist issued a demand notice to the petitioner. Being aggrieved, he filed an appeal before the Deputy Secretary, Appellate Authority but the same was dismissed. Challenging this, he approached the Principal Secretary but he also refused to interfere with the matter and dismissed the appeal. As a result, the petitioner was before the High Court.

The High Court in view of the facts and circumstances of the case observed, “… a time limit for passing final orders after the hearing is completed by the statutory authorities can be fixed till a proper rule/guideline is prescribed by the State Government.”

The Court, therefore, laid down the following guidelines to be followed by all statutory authorities constituted as per the provisions of all statutes, rules, etc. in the State while considering appeal, revision, and other statutory applications/petitions etc. –

(a) After the hearing is concluded in appeals, revisions and other statutory proceedings, the statutory authorities should pass final orders as expeditiously as possible, at any rate, within 30 days from the date of concluding the hearing.

(b) If there is a delay in passing final orders beyond one month after concluding the hearing, the order should reflect the reason for the delay. The reason can be considered by the higher authorities to find out whether there is any prejudice to the parties because of the delay. If no proper reason is mentioned and there is prejudice to the parties because of the delay, that itself is a reason to set aside that order.

(c) If no orders are passed in appeal, revision or other proceedings within three months after concluding the hearing, the appellate authority, revisional authority and other statutory authorities should rehear the parties for passing final orders. Otherwise, the order passed by such authority can be set aside for that reason itself unless there are compelling reasons to sustain the same.

(d) If orders are passed in appeal, revision or other proceedings after six months from the date of concluding the hearing by the appellate authority, revisional authority and other statutory authorities, those orders are to be set aside for that reason alone, unless there are compelling reasons to sustain such orders.

The Court further ordered that such a practice should be followed by all statutory authorities in the State and the Chief Secretary of the State should issue necessary orders in this regard within one month from the date of receipt of a copy of the judgement and circulate it to all heads of departments.

“The Chief Secretary shall also undertake necessary measures to ensure that the general public is made aware of the same. A copy of this judgment shall be forwarded to the Chief Secretary for issuing necessary orders in this regard by the registry forthwith”, it added.

Accordingly, the High Court disposed of the writ petition, quashed the impugned orders, and directed the Geologist to reconsider the matter.

Cause Title- Mathew Philip v. State of Kerala & Ors. (Neutral Citation: 2024:KER:49318)

Appearance:

Petitioner: Advocates Jomy George and Deepak Mohan.

Respondents: Govt. Pleader B.S. Syamantak

Click here to read/download the Judgment