9911796707
TMI Blog2007 (8) TMI 697X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... or payment of tax amounting to Rs. 11,79,078 for the assessment year 2002-03. The petitioner is a registered dealer. For the assessment year 2002-2003, respondent No. 4 vide his order dated March 29, 2006 assessed the petitioner and created tax liability of Rs. 26,70,983 and Rs. 3,01,699 under the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957 and the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956, respectively. The petitioner challenged the assessment by filing an appeal along with an application for stay. Respondent No. 3 dismissed the prayer for stay by recording the following order: "M/s. Xerox India Limited, Somajiguda, Hyderabad, the appellant herein, filed this appeal against the assessment orders of the Commercial Tax Officer, Basheerbagh Circle, Hydera ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... en treated as an integral part of the concept of natural justice-Harinagar Sugar Mills Ltd. v. Shyam Sundar Jhunjhunwala [1961] 31 Comp Cas 337 ;AIR 1961 SC 1669, Madhya Pradesh Industries Ltd. v. Union of India AIR 1966 SC 671, Bhagat Raja v. Union of India AIR 1967 SC 1606, Mahabir Prasad Santosh Kumar v. State of U.P. AIR 1970 SC 1302, Travancore Rayons Ltd. v. Union of India AIR 1971 SC 862, Ajanta Industries v. Central Board of Direct Taxes, New Delhi [1976] 102 ITR 281 (SC); AIR 1976 SC 437, Siemens Engineering and Manufacturing Co. India Ltd. v. Union of India AIR 1976 SC 1785, S.N. Mukherjee v. Union of India AIR 1990 SC 1984, Charan Singh v. Healing Touch Hospital [2000] 7 SCC 668, State of Punjab v. Bagh Singh [2004] 1 SCC 547, St ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... with such a requirement. It may do so by making an express provision to that effect as those contained in the Administrative Procedure Act, 1946 of U.S.A. and the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act, 1977 of Australia whereby the orders passed by certain specified authorities are excluded from the ambit of the enactment. Such an exclusion can also arise by necessary implication from the nature of the subject-matter, the scheme and the provisions of the enactment. The public interest underlying such a provision would outweigh the salutary purpose served by the requirement to record the reasons. The said requirement cannot, therefore, be insisted upon in such a case." In State of Punjab v. Bhag Singh [2004] 1 SCC 547, the Supreme ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lication of mind to the issue before the Court and also as an essential requisite of principles of natural justice....The giving of reasons for a decision is an essential attribute of judicial and judicious disposal of a matter before courts, and which is the only indication to know about the manner and quality of exercise undertaken, as also the fact that the court concerned had really applied its mind. All the more so, when refusal of leave to appeal has the effect of foreclosing once and for all a scope for scrutiny of the judgment of the trial court even at the instance and hands of the first appellate court..." In Cyril Lasrado v. Juliana Maria Lasrado [2004] 7 SCC 431, the Supreme Court considered the same question and held as under: ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... economic and political and in order to achieve the ideal of welfare State, the State has to perform several functions involving acts of interferences with the free and unrestricted exercise of private rights. The State is called upon to regulate and control the social and economic life of the citizen in order to establish socio-economic justice and remove the existing imbalance in the socio-economic structure. The State has, therefore, necessarily to entrust diverse functions to administrative authorities which involve making of orders and decisions and performance of acts affecting the rights of individual members of the public. In exercise of some of these functions, the administrative authorities are required to act judicially. Now what ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... High Court or the Supreme Court exercising its power of judicial review to examine whether the administrative officer has made any error of law in making the order. It would be the easiest thing for an administrative officer to avoid judicial scrutiny and correction by omitting to give reasons in support of his order. The High Court and the Supreme Court would be powerless to interfere so as to keep the administrative officer within the limits of the law. The result would be that the power of judicial review would be stultified and no redress being available to the citizen, there would be insidious encouragement to arbitrariness and caprice. The power of judicial review is a necessary concomitant of the rule of law and if judicial review i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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