Show-Cause Notice Is A 'Superfluous Formality' If No Prejudice Is Caused: Andhra Pradesh High Court

"Natural justice is a flexible tool in the hands of the judiciary to reach out in fit cases to remedy injustice. The breach of the audi alteram partem rule cannot by itself, without more, lead to the conclusion that prejudice is thereby caused."

Factual Matrix

The petitioner company had a mining lease, for quarrying black galaxy granite over 6.17 Hectares of land. The lease was for a period of 20 years and would expire in 2025. The Joint Director of Mines issued a notice calling upon the petitioner to show cause why the lease should not be cancelled. Thereafter, the Director of Mines and Geology cancelled the lease of petitioner on ground of various breaches. Aggrieved by the said order, the petitioner filed a revision and the same was dismissed.

Contentions of Both sides

The counsel for petitioner contended that the impugned revisional order refused to answer the primary contention of the petitioner that no show-cause notice was received by the Petitioner and that the order of the Director of Mines, cancelling the lease of the petitioner, was passed without giving an opportunity of hearing to the petitioner and consequently violates the principles of natural justice.

It was stated that the new address was available in the records of the department but the notice was sent to old address.

The counsel for respondent submitted that on the admitted facts, the petitioner had not undertaken any mining activities from the year 2005 onwards till the lease was terminated in 2018. In the circumstances, issuance of a show cause notice was a "superfluous formality" as the petitioner did not have any explanation as to why no quarrying operations had been carried out for 13 years and the State had been losing revenue on account of the petitioner blocking the exploitation of the minor mineral available in the lease area.

Decision of the Court

Justice R. Raghunandan Rao took note of Aligarh Muslim University vs. Mansoor Ali Khan (2007) where the Supreme Court has held that mere breach of principles of natural justice was not sufficient unless prejudice caused on account of such breach was also demonstrated before the Court.

In Sudheer Kumar Singh (supra), the Supreme Court observed as follows:

No prejudice is caused to the person complaining of the breach of natural justice where such person does not dispute the case against him or it.

It was observed that the petitioner while assailing the termination order, by way of revision, did not deny the finding of the Director. Further, the contention of the petitioner was that the petitioner was willing to rectify all the defects pointed out in the order of determination. It was thus evident that the Petitioner had no grounds/objections to the termination order. On this basis, the issuance of show-cause notice was just a "superfluous formality".

For the said reason, the writ petition was dismissed.

Case Title : M/s. Siva Shankar Minerals Pvt. Ltd. v. The State of Andhra Pradesh & Ors.

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