Fraud and material suppression can reopen a surrender order, defeating finality when false disclosure misleads the authority.

An order procured by fraud or suppression of a material fact can be reopened and corrected by the statutory authority, even after an earlier enquiry or acceptance. Where the land offered for surrender had already vested in the State, the representation that it remained available was false, and that false disclosure vitiated the surrender process. The principle applied is that fraud and material suppression destroy the finality of a proceeding, so the authority may vary the earlier order and substitute appropriate relief notwithstanding prior proceedings.

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Issues: Whether the Tribunal could reopen and vary an earlier surrender order when the land offered for surrender had already vested in the State and the declaration was obtained by fraud and suppression of material facts.

Analysis: The surrender was based on land that had already been acquired and vested in the State, so the representation that it remained available for surrender was false. Fraud is treated as deliberate deception that vitiates solemn proceedings, and suppression of a material fact may amount to fraud. In public law, a false disclosure made to secure an order from an authority can justify reopening notwithstanding an earlier enquiry, because an order obtained by fraud cannot be protected by finality. The Tribunal was therefore entitled to correct the error and vary the earlier order, and the appellate authority was right in affirming that view.

Conclusion: The Tribunal had power to reopen the matter and pass appropriate orders, and the High Court was wrong in holding otherwise.

Final Conclusion: The challenge to the Tribunal's action failed, and the State succeeded in restoring the order recognising fraud and permitting substitution of alternative surplus land.

Ratio Decidendi: An order obtained by fraud or by suppression of a material fact can be reopened and corrected by the statutory authority despite an earlier enquiry or acceptance, because fraud vitiates the entire proceeding.

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