Compulsory retirement may rely on uncommunicated adverse remarks; natural justice does not require prior notice before the decision.

Compulsory retirement under the relevant service rule is a non-punitive measure based on the Government's subjective satisfaction that retirement is in public interest. The entire service record may be considered, including uncommunicated adverse remarks, and prior communication or hearing is not required before the decision is taken. Such remarks do not by themselves invalidate the order. Judicial review is confined to limited grounds, including mala fides, absence of evidence, or arbitrariness where no reasonable person could have formed the requisite opinion. The challenge based on natural justice therefore failed, and the compulsory retirement order was upheld.

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Issues: Whether an order of compulsory retirement can be sustained on the basis of the entire service record, including uncommunicated adverse remarks, and whether the principles of natural justice require prior communication of such remarks before the decision is taken.

Analysis: Compulsory retirement under the relevant service rule is not a punishment and carries no stigma or imputation of misconduct. The decision is founded on the Government's subjective satisfaction that retirement is in public interest. In that setting, the principles of natural justice do not require a pre-decisional notice or hearing. The entire service record may be considered, with greater weight ordinarily given to later service entries, and adverse remarks whether communicated or not do not by themselves invalidate the decision. Judicial review remains available, but only on limited grounds such as mala fides, absence of evidence, or arbitrariness in the sense that no reasonable person could have formed the requisite opinion on the material before it.

Conclusion: The use of uncommunicated adverse remarks in the compulsory retirement decision was permissible, and the challenge on the ground of violation of natural justice failed. The order of compulsory retirement was upheld.

Ratio Decidendi: An order of compulsory retirement, being a non-punitive action based on the Government's subjective satisfaction in public interest, may validly rest on the entire service record including uncommunicated adverse remarks, and is not vitiated merely because those remarks were not previously communicated, unless the order is shown to be mala fide, unsupported by evidence, or arbitrary.

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