TMI Blog2020 (10) TMI 746X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ery of financial loss from those who are responsible. Shri Rakesh Dwivedi also fairly conceded that his client had not asked for any relief qua the delinquent officers. This being the case, we set aside the impugned judgment insofar as it has quashed the Managing Director s report dated 14.06.2019, and the order of the Special Secretary dated 16.07.2019. Any consequential action that is to be taken pursuant to these orders must follow in accordance with law. It may be added that every case in which a citizen/person knocks at the doors of the writ court for breach of his or its fundamental rights is a matter which contains a public law element , as opposed to a case which is concerned only with breach of contract and damages flowing therefrom. Whenever a plea of breach of natural justice is made against the State, the said plea, if found sustainable, sounds in constitutional law as arbitrary State action, which attracts the provisions of Article 14 of the Constitution of India - The present case is, therefore, a case which involves a public law element in that the petitioner (Respondent No.1 before us) who knocked at the doors of the writ court alleged breach of the audi alter ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... etc. and transporting of foodgrains/fertilizers etc. from Railway Station to Corporation godowns or vice versa or transporting them from any place to any other place for the Vindhyachal (Mirzapur) Region. Ten days later i.e. on 16.01.2018, the said tender was cancelled by the Corporation due to administrative reasons . On 01.04.2018, an e-tender was again published in the same terms, and so far as the region Vindhyachal (Mirzapur) is concerned, it was for the appointment of Handling and Transport Contractor for food grain in FCI and alleged material etc. of the following depots/centres of Uttar Pradesh for a period of two years: Sl. No. Name of Depot/Centre Workable capacity (in M.T.) Estimated annual value of contract Earnest money @20% security amount through RTGS/NEFT Security deposit (in rupees) 1. Mirzapur 8430 50000000.00 1000000.00 5000000.00 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Not specified in words and numbers 4. Manisha Engineering 225% ASOR 5. Arjun Singh 25% ASOR (Where ASOR means Above Schedule of Rates) 4. On 04.05.2018, the then Managing Director of the Corporation cancelled the aforesaid tender apparently on the ground that it was impractical to go ahead with such tender. As a result, on 01.06.2018, for the same region, the aforesaid tender was reissued for the same workable capacity and estimated annual value of the contract. It may be added that each of these tenders were for a period of two years. 5. Sudhir Kumar Singh, Respondent No.1 in the appeals arising out of SLP (C) No. 5136 of 2020 and SLP (C) No. 7351 of 2020, was declared as the successful bidder for the Bhawanipur-I centre, at the rate of 341% ASOR, the other successful tenderers for Mirzapur, Bhawanipur-II and Tendu (Sonbhadra) being at 314%, 338% and 290% ASOR respectively. On 13.07.2018, an agreement was entered into between the Corporation and Respondent No.1 for execution of the work under the tender, which began on and ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... orfeiture of security deposit by Uday Construction or application filed for producing the same are concerned, then in this respect it is to be known that Uday Construction applied only for PEG Tendu through Advertisement No.1.1001.23318 dated 01.04.2018. Therefore, on this ground rejection of bids received for other centres was prima facie not justified. 8. Meanwhile, the Commissioner, Vindhyachal Mandal Mirzapur, also conducted an ex parte investigation and found in his report dated 29.06.2019 as follows: 1. State regional manager Sh. Madhukar Gupta has mentioned in his letter no. R.BH.N/dated 26-05-2018 forwarded to State General Manager (finance) Uttar Pradesh State Warehousing Corporation that committee of e-tendering has been formed only for the purpose of formalities. It is cleared from examining the paragraph that formality has been done in the tender. On 12-07- 2018 the state manager gave the recommendation of acceptance and on 13-07-2018 Uttar Pradesh State Warehousing Corporation gave acceptance. On 13-07- 2018 Sh. Madhukar Gupta State Regional Manager, Uttar Pradesh State Warehousing Corporation Vindhyachal gave appointment order to the concerned contractors. Her ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t your own level, the financial loss caused to the Government and after evaluating the same, shall take action to recover the said amount from concerned Contractor and concerned Officers. The Officers/Employees against whom any previous departmental proceeding is pending, in respect of them by including these charges as additional Charge Sheet action shall be taken and against officers/employees found guilty in the matter against whom no proceedings are pending, proceeding shall be done by marking them. The tenders of abovementioned firms which are granted contrary to rules, by cancelling them the appointment of contractors be done through e-tendering again for handling and transport work of concerned Warehouses. Said proceedings be done as soon as possible and the action taken shall be informed to the Government. 10. Pursuant to this letter, the aforesaid tenders were then cancelled on 26.07.2019, and disciplinary proceedings were taken against certain employees of the Corporation. These proceedings led to a report dated 18.10.2019, in which the difference between the earlier rates and the present rates were gone into, and it was found that an excess of INR 4,40,05,369 had ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tioned, merely because those earlier tender notices were cancelled/ withdrawn, a necessary presumption cannot be raised that the third notice inviting tender was for some extraneous considerations. It is true that the prices this time were taken to be very high as against the earlier ones in the process of tender in which the prices were quoted very low but that does not itself become the ground to cancel the entire tender process which had not only been finalized but even the agreement had been entered into and the party under the contract was carrying out the work making huge investment of money. Had it been a case also of the kind where the party to the contract had violated the terms and conditions of the contract, it could have been said that the tender was liable to be cancelled for violation of terms and conditions of the tender agreement. But in the instant case no such finding has come to be returned. The reasons for which the tender proceedings that had already been concluded with the execution of the agreement, has been cancelled without assigning any reason of wrong practice adopted by the petitioner in obtaining the agreement. Thus the petitioner cannot be said to be a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... erefore, terminating the agreement dated 26.7.2019 cannot be sustained in law. Thus, for the forgoing discussions writ petition succeeds and is allowed. The order dated 26.7.2019 (Annexure- 13) to the writ petition and the enquiry report dated 14.6.2019 submitted by the Managing Director as well as the order passed by the Special Secretary dated 16.7.2019 are also hereby quashed. The consequential action if taken pursuant to the impugned order is also quashed. The consequences to follow, however, there will be no order as to costs. 15. Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, learned Senior Advocate appearing on behalf of the Corporation, first adverted to the prayer in the Writ Petition filed by Respondent No.1, and argued that the High Court had gone way beyond what was asked for. According to him, the Writ Petition only prayed for a quashing of the cancellation order dated 26.07.2019 of the second tender. The High Court went way beyond, and not only quashed the aforesaid cancellation, but also quashed the enquiry report of the Managing Director dated 14.06.2019, as well as the order passed by the Special Secretary dated 16.07.2019, and the consequential action taken, namely, the dep ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... gued that the High Court judgment ought not to be interfered with, inasmuch as his client had pumped in a lot of money, and had worked the contract for a period of over one year successfully and without any complaint whatsoever from the Corporation. He reiterated the fact that nobody had challenged the award of the tender to his client, and that the cancellation of the tender was done behind his client s back. Had the authorities bothered to give his client a hearing, his client could have pointed out that in other nearby divisions, tenders were awarded at roughly the same rates, all of which contracts had been worked out, and none of which have been cancelled. Thus, he argued that his client suffered serious prejudice, in that he was able to work his contract for only one out of the two years that was awarded to him. He further argued that had a hearing been given, his client would also have demonstrated that the rates that were awarded could not be characterised as unreasonable, given the magnitude of the contract in his favour. He also argued that the award of tender at a lower rate at Mirzapur, which is currently being processed through his client, is not comparable with the te ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rt held that it was no longer res integra that a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution is maintainable at the instance of an aggrieved party to enforce a contractual obligation of the State or its instrumentality when the State acts in an arbitrary manner, as follows: 8 . As could be seen from the arguments addressed in this appeal and as also from the divergent views of the two courts below, one of the questions that falls for our consideration is whether a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India is maintainable to enforce a contractual obligation of the State or its instrumentality, by an aggrieved party. 9 . In our opinion this question is no more res integra and is settled by a large number of judicial pronouncements of this Court. In K.N. Guruswamy v. State of Mysore [(1955) 1 SCR 305] this Court held: 20. The next question is whether the appellant can complain of this by way of a writ. In our opinion, he could have done so in an ordinary case. The appellant is interested in these contracts and has a right under the laws of the State to receive the same treatment and be given the same chance as anybody else. We would ther ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... such a promise, it cannot be said that the only remedy for the aggrieved party would be suing for damages for breach and that it could not compel the Corporation for specific performance of the contract under Article 226. 12 . The learned counsel appearing for the first respondent, however, submitted that this Court has taken a different view in the case of LIC of India v. Escorts Ltd. [(1986) 1 SCC 264] wherein this Court held: (SCC p. 344, para 102) If the action of the State is related to contractual obligations or obligations arising out of the tort, the court may not ordinarily examine it unless the action has some public law character attached to it. Broadly speaking, the court will examine actions of State if they pertain to the public law domain and refrain from examining them if they pertain to the private law field. The difficulty will lie in demarcating the frontier between the public law domain and the private law field. It is impossible to draw the line with precision and we do not want to attempt it. The question must be decided in each case with reference to the particular action, the activity in which the State or the instrumentality of the State is engag ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... not lie. It is seen from the above extract that in that case because of an arbitration clause in the contract, the Court refused to invoke the remedy under Article 226 of the Constitution. We have specifically inquired from the parties to the present appeal before us and we have been told that there is no such arbitration clause in the contract in question. It is well known that if the parties to a dispute had agreed to settle their dispute by arbitration and if there is an agreement in that regard, the courts will not permit recourse to any other remedy without invoking the remedy by way of arbitration, unless of course both the parties to the dispute agree on another mode of dispute resolution. Since that is not the case in the instant appeal, the observations of this Court in the said case of Bridge Roof Co. [(1996) 6 SCC 22] are of no assistance to the first respondent in its contention that in contractual matters, writ petition is not maintainable. 20. This principle has been consistently upheld by this Court in Noble Resources v. State of Orissa and Anr. (2006) 10 SCC 236 (at paragraph 15); Food Corp. of India and Anr. v. SEIL Ltd. and Ors. (2008) 3 SCC 440 (at paragra ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ent and its agencies. We may advert to three decisions of this Court in Dwarkadas Marfatia Sons v. Board of Trustees of the Port of Bombay [(1989) 3 SCC 293], Mahabir Auto Stores v. Indian Oil Corpn. [(1990) 3 SCC 752] and Shrilekha Vidyarthi (Kumari) v. State of U.P. [(1991) 1 SCC 212]. Where the breach of contract involves breach of statutory obligation when the order complained of was made in exercise of statutory power by a statutory authority, though cause of action arises out of or pertains to contract, brings it within the sphere of public law because the power exercised is apart from contract. The freedom of the Government to enter into business with anybody it likes is subject to the condition of reasonableness and fair play as well as public interest. After entering into a contract, in cancelling the contract which is subject to terms of the statutory provisions, as in the present case, it cannot be said that the matter falls purely in a contractual field. Therefore, we do not think it would be appropriate to suggest that the case on hand is a matter arising purely out of a contract and, therefore, interference under Article 226 of the Constitution is not called for. Th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 70.3 . Even in cases where question is of choice or consideration of competing claims before entering into the field of contract, facts have to be investigated and found before the question of a violation of Article 14 of the Constitution could arise. If those facts are disputed and require assessment of evidence the correctness of which can only be tested satisfactorily by taking detailed evidence, involving examination and cross-examination of witnesses, the case could not be conveniently or satisfactorily decided in proceedings under Article 226 of the Constitution. In such cases the Court can direct the aggrieved party to resort to alternate remedy of civil suit, etc. 70.4. Writ jurisdiction of the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution was not intended to facilitate avoidance of obligation voluntarily incurred. 70.5 . Writ petition was not maintainable to avoid contractual obligation. Occurrence of commercial difficulty, inconvenience or hardship in performance of the conditions agreed to in the contract can provide no justification in not complying with the terms of contract which the parties had accepted with open eyes. It cannot ever be that a licens ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ave not gone into the decision-making process or that the decision is not arbitrary. 70.10 . Mere reasonable or legitimate expectation of a citizen, in such a situation, may not by itself be a distinct enforceable right, but failure to consider and give due weight to it may render the decision arbitrary, and this is how the requirements of due consideration of a legitimate expectation forms part of the principle of non-arbitrariness. 70.11 . The scope of judicial review in respect of disputes falling within the domain of contractual obligations may be more limited and in doubtful cases the parties may be relegated to adjudication of their rights by resort to remedies provided for adjudication of purely contractual disputes. 23. It may be added that every case in which a citizen/person knocks at the doors of the writ court for breach of his or its fundamental rights is a matter which contains a public law element , as opposed to a case which is concerned only with breach of contract and damages flowing therefrom. Whenever a plea of breach of natural justice is made against the State, the said plea, if found sustainable, sounds in constitutional law as arbitrary State ac ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... dded or subtracted by Respondent No.1. Shri Dwivedi, on the other hand, argued that this is a case of a complete lack of natural justice, all orders having been passed behind the back of his client, as a result of which his client has been severely prejudiced. 27. Natural justice is at least as old as the first man created on earth the biblical Adam . J.R. Lucas in his book On Justice states (at page 86): Hence, when we are judging deeds, and may find that a man did wrong, there is a requirement of logic that we should allow the putative agent to correct misinterpretations or disavow the intention imputed to him or otherwise disown the action. God needed to ask Adam Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? Because it was essential that Adam should not be blamed or punished unless he had done exactly that deed. If the serpent had planted the evidence, or if he had beguiled Adam into eating it under the misapprehension that it came from another, non-forbidden tree, then Adam had not sinned and should not have been expelled from Eden. Only if the accused admits the charge, or, faced with the accusation, cannot explain his behaviou ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... case in which there are admitted facts. Thus, in K.L. Tripathi v. State Bank of India and Ors. (1984) 1 SCC 43, the Court held: 29 . We are of the opinion that Mr Garg is right that the rules of natural justice as we have set out hereinbefore implied an opportunity to the delinquent officer to give evidence in respect of the charges or to deny the charges against him. Secondly, he submitted that even if the rules had no statutory force and even if the party had bound himself by the contract, as he had accepted the Staff Rule, there cannot be any contract with a Statutory Corporation which is violative of the principles of natural justice in matters of domestic enquiry involving termination of service of an employee. We are in agreement with the basic submission of Mr Garg in this respect, but we find that the relevant rules which we have set out hereinbefore have been complied with even if the rules are read that requirements of natural justice were implied in the said rules or even if such basic principles of natural justice were implied, there has been no violation of the principles of natural justice in respect of the order passed in this case. In respect of an order involv ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... acity of the statements. Where there is no dispute as to the facts, or the weight to be attached on disputed facts but only an explanation of the acts, absence of opportunity to cross-examination does not create any prejudice in such cases. (emphasis supplied) 30. Likewise, in State of U.P. v. Neeraj Awasthi and Ors. (2006) 1 SCC 667, this Court held that where, on undisputed facts, a retrenchment would be valid in law, the principles of natural justice would not be attracted, unless there is some stigma or punitive measure which would be attached, which would then cause prejudice, as follows: 47 . If the employees are workmen within the purview of the U.P. Industrial Disputes Act, they are protected thereunder. Rules 42 and 43 of the U.P. Industrial Disputes Rules provide that before effecting any retrenchment in terms of the provisions of Section 6-N of the U.P. Industrial Disputes Act, the employees concerned would be entitled to a notice of one month or in lieu thereof pay for one month and 15 days' wages for each completed year of service by way of compensation. If such a retrenchment is effected under the Industrial Disputes Act, the question of complying with ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... employee or not on account of the denial to him of the report, has to be considered on the facts and circumstances of each case. Where, therefore, even after the furnishing of the report, no different consequence would have followed, it would be a perversion of justice to permit the employee to resume duty and to get all the consequential benefits. It amounts to rewarding the dishonest and the guilty and thus to stretching the concept of justice to illogical and exasperating limits. It amounts to an unnatural expansion of natural justice which in itself is antithetical to justice. 31 . Hence, in all cases where the enquiry officer's report is not furnished to the delinquent employee in the disciplinary proceedings, the Courts and Tribunals should cause the copy of the report to be furnished to the aggrieved employee if he has not already secured it before coming to the Court/Tribunal and give the employee an opportunity to show how his or her case was prejudiced because of the non-supply of the report. If after hearing the parties, the Court/Tribunal comes to the conclusion that the non-supply of the report would have made no difference to the ultimate findings and the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... alteram partem has progressed in the manner mentioned above, at the same time, the courts have also repeatedly remarked that the principles of natural justice are very flexible principles. They cannot be applied in any straitjacket formula. It all depends upon the kind of functions performed and to the extent to which a person is likely to be affected. For this reason, certain exceptions to the aforesaid principles have been invoked under certain circumstances. For example, the courts have held that it would be sufficient to allow a person to make a representation and oral hearing may not be necessary in all cases, though in some matters, depending upon the nature of the case, not only full-fledged oral hearing but even cross-examination of witnesses is treated as a necessary concomitant of the principles of natural justice. Likewise, in service matters relating to major punishment by way of disciplinary action, the requirement is very strict and full-fledged opportunity is envisaged under the statutory rules as well. On the other hand, in those cases where there is an admission of charge, even when no such formal inquiry is held, the punishment based on such admission is upheld. I ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... action is taken. Therefore, every violation of a facet of natural justice may not lead to the conclusion that the order passed is always null and void. The validity of the order has to be decided on the touchstone of prejudice . The ultimate test is always the same viz. the test of prejudice or the test of fair hearing. xxx xxx xxx 42 . So far so good. However, an important question posed by Mr Sorabjee is as to whether it is open to the authority, which has to take a decision, to dispense with the requirement of the principles of natural justice on the ground that affording such an opportunity will not make any difference? To put it otherwise, can the administrative authority dispense with the requirement of issuing notice by itself deciding that no prejudice will be caused to the person against whom the action is contemplated? Answer has to be in the negative. It is not permissible for the authority to jump over the compliance of the principles of natural justice on the ground that even if hearing had been provided it would have served no useful purpose. The opportunity of hearing will serve the purpose or not has to be considered at a later stage and such things cannot ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nterfere with the order of punishment. The court/tribunal should not mechanically set aside the order of punishment on the ground that the report was not furnished as is regrettably being done at present. The courts should avoid resorting to short cuts. Since it is the courts/tribunals which will apply their judicial mind to the question and give their reasons for setting aside or not setting aside the order of punishment, (and not any internal appellate or revisional authority), there would be neither a breach of the principles of natural justice nor a denial of the reasonable opportunity. It is only if the court/tribunal finds that the furnishing of the report would have made a difference to the result in the case that it should set aside the order of punishment. 45 . Keeping in view the aforesaid principles in mind, even when we find that there is an infraction of principles of natural justice, we have to address a further question as to whether any purpose would be served in remitting the case to the authority to make fresh demand of amount recoverable, only after issuing notice to show cause to the appellant. In the facts of the present case, we find that such an exercis ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ity to the delinquent officer/employee. They are, generally speaking, conceived in his interest. Violation of any and every procedural provision cannot be said to automatically vitiate the enquiry held or order passed. Except cases falling under - no notice , no opportunity and no hearing categories, the complaint of violation of procedural provision should be examined from the point of view of prejudice, viz., whether such violation has prejudiced the delinquent officer/employee in defending himself properly and effectively. If it is found that he has been so prejudiced, appropriate orders have to be made to repair and remedy the prejudice including setting aside the enquiry and/or the order of punishment. If no prejudice is established to have resulted therefrom, it is obvious, no interference is called for. In this connection, it may be remembered that there may be certain procedural provisions which are of a fundamental character, whose violation is by itself proof of prejudice. The Court may not insist on proof of prejudice in such cases. As explained in the body of the judgment, take a case where there is a provision expressly providing that after the evidence of the emp ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... iolation of natural justice (rule of audi alteram partem) and violation of a facet of the said rule, as explained in the body of the judgment. In other words, a distinction must be made between no opportunity and no adequate opportunity, i.e., between no notice / no hearing and no fair hearing . (a) In the case of former, the order passed would undoubtedly be invalid (one may call it void or a nullity if one chooses to). In such cases, normally, liberty will be reserved for the Authority to take proceedings afresh according to law, i.e., in accordance with the said rule (audi alteram partem). (b) But in the latter case, the effect of violation (of a facet of the rule of audi alteram partem) has to be examined from the standpoint of prejudice; in other words, what the Court or Tribunal has to see is whether in the totality of the circumstances, the delinquent officer/employee did or did not have a fair hearing and the orders to be made shall depend upon the answer to the said query. [It is made clear that this principle (No. 5) does not apply in the case of rule against bias, the test in which behalf are laid down elsewhere.] (6) While applying the rule of audi alteram par ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... een different. Lord Woolf in Lloyd v. McMahon [(1987) 2 WLR 821, 862] (WLR at p. 862) has also not disfavoured refusal of discretion in certain cases of breach of natural justice. The New Zealand Court in McCarthy v. Grant [1959 NZLR 1014] however goes halfway when it says that (as in the case of bias), it is sufficient for the applicant to show that there is real likelihood - not certainty - of prejudice . On the other hand, Garner Administrative Law (8th Edn., 1996, pp. 271-72) says that slight proof that the result would have been different is sufficient. On the other side of the argument, we have apart from Ridge v. Baldwin [1964 AC 40], Megarry, J. in John v. Rees [(1969) 2 WLR 1294] stating that there are always open and shut cases and no absolute rule of proof of prejudice can be laid down. Merits are not for the court but for the authority to consider. Ackner, J. has said that the useless formality theory is a dangerous one and, however inconvenient, natural justice must be followed. His Lordship observed that convenience and justice are often not on speaking terms . More recently Lord Bingham has deprecated the useless formality theory in R. v. Chief Constable of t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... w that grant of a writ will be in vain as pointed out by Chinnappa Reddy, J. 36. In Aligarh Muslim University and Ors. v. Mansoor Ali Khan (2000) 7 SCC 529, the aforesaid authorities were relied upon, and the answer given was that there is no absolute rule, and prejudice must be shown depending on the facts of each case, as follows: 24. The principle that in addition to breach of natural justice, prejudice must also be proved has been developed in several cases. In K.L. Tripathi v. State Bank of India [(1984) 1 SCC 43] Sabyasachi Mukharji, J. (as he then was) also laid down the principle that not mere violation of natural justice but de facto prejudice (other than non-issue of notice) had to be proved. It was observed, quoting Wade's Administrative Law (5th Edn., pp. 472-75), as follows: (SCC p. 58, para 31) [I]t is not possible to lay down rigid rules as to when the principles of natural justice are to apply, nor as to their scope and extent. There must also have been some real prejudice to the complainant; there is no such thing as a merely technical infringement of natural justice. The requirements of natural justice must depend on the facts and circumstances ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ice needs to be pleaded and shown. With the development of law, rigidity in these rules is somewhat relaxed. The instance of de facto prejudice has been accepted as an essential feature where there is violation of the non-mandatory rules or violation of natural justice as it is understood in its common parlance. Taking an instance, in a departmental enquiry where the department relies upon a large number of documents majority of which are furnished and an opportunity is granted to the delinquent officer to defend himself except that some copies of formal documents had not been furnished to the delinquent. In that event the onus is upon the employee to show that non-furnishing of these formal documents have resulted in de facto prejudice and he has been put to a disadvantage as a result thereof. xxx xxx xxx 87 . In ECIL v. B. Karunakar [(1993) 4 SCC 727] this Court noticed the existing law and said that the theory of reasonable opportunity and the principles of natural justice have been evolved to uphold the rule of law and to assist the individual to vindicate his just rights. They are neither incantations to be invoked nor rites to be performed on all and sundry occasions. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... h of natural justice, as the case was one on admitted facts: (i) Punjab and Sind Bank and Ors. v. Sakattar Singh (2001) 1 SCC 214 (see paragraphs 1, 4 and 5); (ii) Karnataka SRTC and Anr. v. S.G. Kotturappa and Anr. (2005) 3 SCC 409 (see paragraph 24); (iii) Viveka Nand Sethi v. Chairman, J K Bank Ltd. and Ors. (2005) 5 SCC 337 (see paragraphs 21, 22 and 26); (iv) Mohd. Sartaj and Anr. v. State of U.P. and Ors. (2006) 2 SCC 315 (see paragraph 18); (v) Punjab National Bank and Ors. v. Manjeet Singh and Anr. (2006) 8 SCC 647 (see paragraphs 17 and 19); (vi) Ashok Kumar Sonkar v. Union of India and Ors. (2007) 4 SCC 54 (see paragraphs 26 to 32); (vii) State of Manipur and Ors. v. Y. Token Singh and Ors. (2007) 5 SCC 65 (see paragraphs 21 and 22); (viii) Secretary, A.P. Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions v. Pindiga Sridhar and Ors. (2007) 13 SCC 352 (see paragraph 7) (ix) Peethani Suryanarayana and Anr. v. Repaka Venkata Ramana Kishore and Ors. (2009) 11 SCC 308 (see paragraph 18); (x) Municipal Committee, Hoshiapur v. Punjab State Electricity Board and Ors. (2010) 13 SCC 216 (see paragraphs 31 to 36, and paragraphs 44 a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... barred from bidding for any of the Corporation s tenders for a period of three years. Undoubtedly, prima facie, the rates at which contracts have been awarded pursuant to the tender dated 01.06.2018 are way above the rates that were awarded of the same division, and for exactly the same amount of work awarded vide the earlier tender advertisement dated 01.04.2018. Shri Dwivedi s argument that in the neighbouring regions the rates tendered were also high, and nothing has yet been done to nullify these tenders and the financial loss caused, does carry some weight. That a huge financial loss to the Corporation has also taken place is something for the Corporation to probe, and take remedial action against the persons responsible. 41. We, therefore, uphold the impugned judgment of the High Court on the ground that natural justice has indeed been breached in the facts of the present case, not being a case of admitted facts leading to the grant of a futile writ, and that prejudice has indeed been caused to Respondent No.1. In view of this finding, there is no need to examine the other contentions raised by the parties before us. 42. We reiterate the submission of Shri Dwivedi that ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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