Mandatory prior consultation with expert body invalidated licence revocation where the licensee's explanation was not first considered.

Before revoking an electricity licence, the State Government had to consult the State Electricity Board only after receiving and considering the licensee's explanation. The Court treated that sequence as a mandatory condition precedent because the amended statutory scheme required the Board to assess the explanation and decide whether to recommend revocation, continuation, or modified terms. Consultation made prematurely, before the cause shown was considered, deprived the Board of the material needed for an informed recommendation and failed the statutory safeguard. The revocation order was therefore void, and the consequential acquisition order also failed.

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Issues: Whether, on the facts and scheme of Section 4 of the Indian Electricity Act, 1910, the State Government was required to consult the State Electricity Board only after receiving and considering the licensee's explanation, and whether consultation made before such explanation rendered the revocation order void.

Analysis: The amended provision required the State Government, before revoking a licence, to act after consulting the Board and after giving the licensee notice and considering the cause shown. The statutory scheme contemplated that the Board should decide whether to recommend revocation, non-revocation, or continuation with modified terms after applying its mind to the licensee's explanation. Premature consultation, made before the explanation was received, deprived the Board of the material necessary for an informed recommendation and defeated the safeguard introduced by the amendment. In the context of a drastic power affecting the right to carry on business, the consultation requirement was treated as a condition precedent rather than a merely directory formality.

Conclusion: The consultation with the Board had to be made after receipt and consideration of the licensee's explanation, and the consultation made before that stage was ineffective. The revocation order was therefore void and the consequential acquisition order also fell.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statute introduces consultation with an expert body as a safeguard before an adverse administrative action, and the structure of the provision shows that the body must consider the affected party's explanation, consultation at a premature stage is a breach of a mandatory condition precedent and renders the resulting order void.

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