Retrospective MSME claims and review power: Council cannot reopen a rejected claim without statutory authority.

A Facilitation Council cannot reopen or review a rejected claim in the absence of express statutory power, and the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006 cannot be applied retrospectively to revive a claim arising from a 1989-90 transaction. A rejection by the Council in 2009 had the character of an award and had to be challenged in accordance with law; the later award passed in 2016 without jurisdiction could not be sustained. The High Court should not have entertained the belated challenge to the 2009 decision or remanded the matter after the Council had acted without authority.

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Issues: Whether the Facilitation Council could entertain and reopen a claim arising from a transaction predating the enactment of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006, and whether the High Court was justified in remanding the matter after the Council had rejected the claim and later passed a fresh award without authority.

Analysis: The claim related to a transaction of 1989-90, long before the enactment of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006, and the statutory scheme could not be used to give retrospective effect to such claims. Once the Council had rejected the claim in 2009, that decision had the character of an award and the proper course was to challenge it in accordance with law. The Council had no power to review or reopen its earlier decision in the absence of express statutory authority under the Act. The High Court also ought not to have entertained the belated challenge to the 2009 decision or sustained the later award passed without jurisdiction.

Conclusion: The Council lacked jurisdiction to reopen the rejected claim, and the High Court's remand order could not stand. The appellant succeeded and the award passed in 2016 was set aside.

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