SINGRAULI SUPER THERMAL POWER STATION versus ASHWANI KUMAR DUBEY & ORS

Citation: [2023] 10 S.C.R. 440 · Decided: 05-07-2023 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: B.V. NAGARATHNA · Disposal: Appeal(s) allowed

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Judgment (excerpt)

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SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[2023] 10 S.C.R.
440
SINGRAULI SUPER THERMAL POWER STATION
v.
ASHWANI KUMAR DUBEY & ORS.
(Civil Appeal No. 3856 of 2022)
JULY 05, 2023
[B. V. NAGARATHNA AND
PRASHANT KUMAR MISHRA, JJ.]
National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 – s. 19(1) – Non-compliance
of principles of Natural justice – Opportunity not given to file
objections to the recommendations made by the Committee – NGT
constituted an expert committee and sought a report regarding the
alleged violations complained by the first respondent – However,
opportunity to raise objections to the report not given to appellants
– Held:It is apparent that the appellants were not given an
opportunity to file their objections to the recommendations made
by the Committee constituted by the NGT which is apparent by the
fact that the recommendations were uploaded on 15.01.2022 and
the final order of the NGT was passed three days later on, i.e.
18.01.2022 – Thus, this is a clear case of there being non compliance
with the principles of natural justice – NGT though is a special
adjudicatory body constituted by an Act of Parliament, nevertheless,
the discharge of its function must be in accordance with law which
would also include compliance with the principles of natural justice
as envisaged in s.19(1) of the Act – Therefore, the impugned order
set aside, matter is remanded to the NGT for re-consideration from
the stage of the recommendations filed by the expert Committee
constituted by the NGT.
Doctrines/Principles – ‘Official notice’ – A device used in
administrative procedure – The data on which an authority is acting
must be apprised to the party against whom the data is to be used
as such a party would then have an opportunity not only to refute it
but also supplement, explain or give a different perspective to the
facts upon which the authority relies.
Allowing the appeals, the Court
HELD: 1. That the NGT is a judicial body and therefore
exercises adjudicatory function. The very nature of an
[2023] 10 S.C.R. 440 : 2023 INSC 618
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adjudicatory function would carry with it the requirement that
principles of natural justice are complied with, particularly when
there is an adversarial system of hearing of the cases before the
Tribunal or for that matter before the Courts in India. The NGT
though is a special adjudicatory body constituted by an Act of
Parliament, nevertheless, the discharge of its function must be
in accordance with law which would also include compliance with
the principles of natural justice as envisaged in Section 19(1) of
the Act. [Para 15][455-B-C]
2. In this context, it would be useful to refer to what is
known as the ‘official notice’ doctrine, which is a device used in
administrative procedure. Although an authority can rely upon
materials familiar to it in its expert capacity without the need
formally to introduce them in evidence, nevertheless, the parties
ought to be informed of materials so noticed and be given an
opportunity to explain or rebut them. The data on which an
authority is acting must be apprised to the party against whom
the data is to be used as such a party would then have an
opportunity not only to refute it but also supplement, explain or
give a different perspective to the facts upon which the authority
relies. This has been explained by Schwartz in his work on
Administrative Law. The aforesaid doctrine applies with greater
force to a judicial / adjudicatory body. Therefore, applying the
aforesaid principle to the cases that come up before the NGT, if
the NGT intends to rely upon an expert Committee report or any
other relevant material that comes to its knowledge, it should
disclose in advance to the party so as to give an opportunity for
discussion and rebuttal. Thus, factual information which comes
to the knowledge of NGT on the basis of the report of the
Committee constituted by it, if to be relied upon by the NGT,
then, the same must be disclosed to the parties for their response
and a reasonable opportunity must be afforded to present their
observations or comments on such a report to the Tribunal. [Para
16][455-D-H]
3. It is needless to observe that the experts’ opinion is
only by way of assistance in arriving at a final conclusion. But, in
the instant case the report of the expert Committee as well as
the recommendations have been made the basis of the directions
and such an approach is improper. [Para 17][456-A-B]
SINGRAULI SUPER THERMAL POWER STATION v.
ASHWANI KUMAR D

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