Principles Of Natural Justice Not 'Mantras' But Foundational Precepts Concerning Fairness Of Procedure: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has observed that the principles of natural justice are not “mantras” but foundational precepts concerned with fairness of procedure and the right of a person to respond to the allegations made.

“Ultimately, whether the asserted violation of some facet of natural justice has tainted the procedure adopted by the respondent is an issue of fact and which would ultimately guide courts to consider whether interference is warranted,” a division bench of Justice Yashwant Varma and Justice Shailender Kaur said.

The court dismissed a petition moved by one Kiran Juneja challenging an order passed by the Additional Secretary in 2020 upholding the orders of confiscation of gold bars passed by the authorities.

The order was challenged on the ground of violation of principles of natural justice. It was Juneja's case that the opportunity of hearing was only accorded to her on two occasions whereas the authorities were bound to grant her one further additional opportunity of hearing before the concerned Authority.

Dismissing the plea, the bench rejected Juneja's submission observing that despite notice having been given to her on two occasions, no one appeared on her behalf as a consequence of which the competent authority decided to proceed ex parte.

“Bearing in mind the aforesaid, we find no justification to interfere with the order impugned,” the court said.

It also rejected the submission wherein certain other orders passed by Revisional authorities were relied upon which permitted the re-export of gold bars which were carried by passengers of foreign origin.

“We note that none of those orders deal with the Baggage Rules, 2016 which too would govern the issue of importation of gold,” the court said.

Counsel for Petitioner: Mr. D.S. Chadha & Ms. Riya Sharma, Advs

Counsel for Respondents: Mr. Vikrant N. Goyal & Mr. Nitin Chandra, Advs for R-1; Mr. Satish Aggarwala, Senior Standing Counsel along with Mr.Gagan Vaswani, Adv for R-2 & R-3

Title: KIRAN JUNEJA v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS.

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Del) 1212

Click Here To Read Order