TMI Blog1977 (2) TMI 140X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... would be satisfied if the law, wrongly laid down by the High Court, were set aside and declared a right and he was not insisting on the formal reversal of the order affecting the respondent (who is unrepresented before us). We proceed on that footing. The few necessary facts may be narrated to bring up the legal issue in its real setting. The respondent was a shot-firer in a colliery and being a risky, technical job, had to possess a certificate for it. He handed over an explosive to an unskilled hand who fired it, an accident occurred and one Bhadu, employed in the mine, was injured. The Regional Inspector of Mines immediately enquired into the cause of the accident and found, on the respondent's virtual admission, qualified by some prevarication, that the shots were fired not by himself but by a cutter, an unauthorised person for shot-firing to whom the respondent had wrongfully entrusted the work. Thereby he contravened the relevant Coal Mines Regulations. The Regional Inspector gave him an opportunity for explanation and, after considering the materials before him, forwarded the papers to the Chairman of the Board together with a recommendation for cancellation of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... prudence of colliery management must make it cardinal to punish the Board vicariously for any major violations and dreadful disasters, on macro considerations of responsibility to the community. The Board must quit, as a legal penalty, if any dreadful deviation, deficiency, default or negligence anywhere in the mine occurs. In the present case a microbreach is being punished, but when major mishaps occur the top echelons, on account of inadequacies in colliery codes, escape and make others the scapegoats. Although, in this ease, only injury, not death, has occurred, there is a good case for new principles of liability, based on wider rules of sociological jurisprudence, to tighten up the law of omission and commission, at the highest levels. Responsibility and penalty must be the concomitants of highly-paid power vested in the top-brass. Back to the pedestrian statement of facts. The respondent's curious contention, accepted by the learned Judge, is best understood after reading Regulation 26: 26. Suspension of an Overman's, Sirdar's, EngineDriver's, shot-firer's, or Gas-testing Certificate- (1) If, in the opinion of the Regionl Inspector, a person to who ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... inspectorate not to be negligent, indifferent or insoucient in the discharge of its overall responsibility which includes anticipation of likely mishaps and introduction of the latest measures to promote safety for the men working in the dark depths at the mercy of the wicked mood of Yama. Any deviance on the part of these high-powered authorities must be visited with tortious or criminal liability. Such is the price which high position must pay for the consequences of calamitous failures. Sensitive occupations demand stern juristic principles to reach at scapegraces, high and low, and not mere long-grown-out commissions whose verdicts often prove dilatory 'shelter' for the-men-in whom Parliament has entrusted plenary management. We emphasize this matter to awaken the law-makers to evolve a code of strict liability calling to utmost care not only the crowd of workers and others but the few who shall care or quit so that subterranean occupations necessary for the nation are made as riskproof as technology and human vigilance permit.. Unfortunately, the High Court surrendered to narrowness of interpretation of Regulation 26 by accepting the submission of the respondent. To ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... an appeal against the report of the Regional Inspector, sent his explanation to the Chairman of the Board. He has thus been heard and compliance with Reg. 26, in the circumstances, is complete. Natural justice. is no unruly horse, no lurking land mine, nor a judicial cure-all. If fairness is shown by the decision-maker to the man proceeded against, the form, features and the fundamentals of such essential processual propriety being conditioned by the facts and circumstances of each situation, no breach of natural justice can be complained of. 'Unnatural expansion of natural justice, without reference to the administrative realities and other factors of a given case, can be exasperating. We can neither be finical nor fanatical but should be flexible yet firm in this jurisdiction. No man shall be hit below the belt--that is the conscience of the matter. Shri Gambir, who appeared as amicus curiae and industriously helped the Court by citing several decisions bearing on natural justice, could not convince us to reach a contrary conclusion. It is true that in the context of Art. 311 of the Constitution this Court has interpreted the quality and amplitude of the opportunity to be ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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