L.Muhammed Aslam vs State Of Kerala Tr.Chief Sec.& Ors
- SCC(2009) 7 SCC 382
- AIRAIR 2009 SC Supp 2243
Ratio decidendi
The rule this decision rests on
The court did not state its reasoning with sufficient clarity on the legal principles governing the case. While the judgment addresses whether the High Court can sit in appeal over an administrative decision to correct a date of birth, it merely asserts that "judicial review of the Administrative action is now well settled by plethora of the decisions of this Court" without articulating what those settled principles are or how they apply here. The court states it found "no merit" but does not explain the legal basis for rejecting the appellant's challenge. The critical reasoning—why the appellant's non-compliance with conditions stipulated in the Government order was fatal to his claim, and what those conditions were—is mentioned but never elaborated. Without the court stating the actual legal rule it applied, no ratio can be extracted. NO_RATIO: The judgment dismisses the appeal by reference to settled but unstated principles of administrative law and judicial review, without articulating the specific legal rules on which the decision rests.
Written by Miss Lucy from the judgment below, not taken from a headnote.
Judgment
As delivered
L. Muhammed Aslam ..........Appellant
Versus
State of Kerala Represented by Chief Secretary and Ors. .......Respondent
JUDGMENT
H.L. Dattu,J.
Leave granted.
1)This is an appeal by special leave against the judgment of High Court of
Kerala dated 27.05.2008 in Writ Appeal No.965 of 2008. By the
impugned order, the Division Bench of the High Court has affirmed the
order passed by the High Court in Writ Petition No.6999 of 2008 dated
02.04.2008, wherein and whereunder, the Court, has set aside the order
passed by the State Government dated 16.01.2008.
2)The Petitioner, at the relevant point of time, was working as Deputy
Superintendent of Police, Immigration Wing, Calicut International
1 Airport. It is his assertion that in his School records, his date of birth was
wrongly entered and therefore coming to know of the said mistake, he
had requested the State Government to correct his date of birth as
12.01.1953 in the School records instead of 12.06.1954 and his request is
favorably considered by the State Government vide its order dated
16.01.2008 and the same could not have been taken exception to by the
High Court and therefore requests this Court in this appeal for
appropriate orders and directions.
3)Having carefully perused the judgment and the order passed by the
High Court, in our considered view, the Court has understood the
purport, object and purpose of the Government order in the proper
perspective and has correctly come to the conclusion that the State
Government while considering the claim of the appellant could not have
diluted its own order to assist the appellant who had not complied with
the conditions stipulated in the Government order.
4)The only question that would arise for our consideration in this appeal
is whether the High Court can sit in appeal over the decision of the State
Government correcting the date of birth of an officer of the State
Government. In our view, the judicial review of the Administrative
action is now well settled by plethora of the decisions of this Court and
2 the references to those decisions and the observations made therein
would be unnecessary in the facts and circumstances of this case.
5)In the result, we are of the considered opinion that there is no merit in
this petition and, accordingly, it requires to be rejected.
6)In view of the above, the appeal is dismissed. Parties are directed to
bear their own costs.
.......................................J. [TARUN CHATTERJEE]
.......................................J. [ H.L. DATTU ] New Delhi, May 08, 2009.
3
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