TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2009 (8) TMI 1176
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.... of clause (1) of Article 341 of the Constitution of India is involved herein. 3. It arises out of a judgment and order dated 13.05.2005 passed by a Division Bench of the High Court of Delhi dismissing an appeal preferred from an order passed by a learned Single Judge of the said Court. The writ petition was filed by the appellant society which is registered under the Societies Registration Act, with its objects amongst others 'upliftment of Backwards, Scheduled Castes and others of Delhi in education, social and cultural fields and to apply for and get all kinds of facilitation and relaxation and for safeguarding their interest in Government jobs'. 4. The background facts involving filing of this appeal are as follows : The members of Scheduled Casts and Scheduled Tribes have an important place in our constitutional scheme. Article 341 of the Constitution empowers the President to specify the castes, races or tribes or part of or groups within castes, races or tribes with respect to any State or Union Territory for the purposes of the Constitution deemed to be Scheduled Castes in relation to that State or Union Territory as the case may be. Similar provision is contained in A....
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....nd not in respect of the State to which he has migrated." 7. Yet again, by way of a clarification issued by the National Capital Territory of Delhi dated 22.3.1977, it was, inter alia, stated : "2. As required under Article 341 and 342 of the Constitution, the President has, with respect to every State and Union Territory and where it is State after consultation with the Governor of the concerned State, issued orders notifying various Castes and Tribes as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in relation that State or Union Territory from time tome. The inter State area restrictions have been deliberately imposed so that the people belonging to the specific community residing in a specific area, which has been assessed to qualify for Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes status, only benefit from the facility provided for them. Since the people belonging to the same caste but living in different State/Union Territories may not necessarily suffer from the such disabilities, it is possible that two persons belonging to the same caste but living in different State/Union Territories may not both be treated to belong Scheduled Caste/Tribes or vice versa. Thus the residence of a....
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..../U.T. of his origin in another State/U.T. where his caste is not in the OBC list is entitled to the concession/benefits admissible to the OBCS from the state of his origin and Union Government but not from the State where he has migrated." 9. Keeping in view the aforementioned directions issued by the Union Territory, an advertisement was issued by the State Subordinate Selection Board. General instructions issued therein, inter alia, read as under : "(2) SC and OBC candidates must furnish certificates issued by the competent authority of Government of NCT of Delhi issued on or before the closing date of receipt of application forms. (Illegible)" 10. Questioning the legality and/or validity of the said circular, Shri Kunwar Pal and 22 others, claiming themselves to be entitled to the benefits of the aforementioned Presidential Notification declaring their caste to be Scheduled Castes but keeping in view the nature of verification specified by reason of the aforementioned circulars, filed writ petition in the High Court of Delhi at New Delhi which was registered as Civil Writ Petition No.5061 of 2001 praying, inter alia, for the following reliefs : "(i) certiorari quashing the....
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....enefit of the aforementioned Presidential notification, may not be extended to those who had migrated from other States, inter alia, raised a question as to what should be the cut off date to determine as to who is a Delhite. Opining that the circular letters had been issued with the object of protecting the rights of the persons who may be away from his State would fall in the category of that State and that only with a view to prevent injustice to such persons that the said circular had been issued. Referring to the decisions in Marri Chandra Shekhar Rao v. Dean, Seth G.S. Medical College & Ors. [(1990) 3 SCC 130] and Action Committee on Issue of Caste Certificate to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the State of Maharashtra & anr. [(1994) 5 SCC 244], it was held : "In my considered view the aforesaid judgment would not come to the aid to the respondents since the present case is not one of a similar nature. The benefit of reservation is sought by such of the petitioners who are born and brought up in Delhi but whose father or forefathers happened to migrate to Delhi over the last number of years." The writ petitioners before the High Court, however, strongly relied up....
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....ent legislation. 16. Mr. Mariarputham, learned Senior Counsel appearing on behalf of the Union of India, Mr. Rakesh Kumar Khanna, learned Senior Counsel appearing on behalf of the New Delhi Municipal Corporation and Dr. Krishan Singh Chauhan, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the private respondents, on the other hand, urged : (i) The Central Government being within the administrative control of Union Territory in terms of Article 239 of the Constitution of India is entitled to lay down policies involving Union Territory Services wherefor executive instructions can be issued. (ii) Direction of this nature being in regard to the classes of people who would be eligible to enter into Union Territory Service which is akin to Central Civil Services being for the purpose of achieving the constitutional goal provided for under clause (4) of Article 16 of the Constitution of India is permissible in law. (iii) The State may take such policy decisions which would advance the cause of the backward class as envisaged under clause (4) of Article 16 of the Constitution of India and clause (4) of Article 15 thereof. (iv) Doctrine of protective discrimination envisaged in Arti....
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....ame name having been declared to be the Scheduled Caste both in the State to which he originally belonged and the State and/or Union Territory to which he has migrated would make any difference in view of the provisions contained in Article 341 of the Constitution of India? (3) Whether in view of the decisions of the Constitution Bench of this Court in State of Maharashtra vs. Milind & ors. [(2001) 1 SCC 4] and E.V. Chinnaiah vs. State of A.P. & ors. [(2005) 1 SCC 394] extension of notification even to a migrant would amount to modification and/or alteration of the notification which is impermissible in law in view of clause (2) of Article 341 and clause (2) of Article 342 of the Constitution of India? (4) Whether having regard to the provisions contained in Articles 239 and 239AA of the Constitution in relation to Union Territory it is permissible for the Central Government to direct recruitment to the Union Territory Services treating it to be akin to Central Civil Services in view of the decisions of this Court in Chandigarh Administration (supra) and S. Pushpa (supra)? (5) Whether the ratio laid down by this Court in Chandigarh Administration (supra) and S. Pushpa (supra)....
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....es and Scheduled Tribes for whom a special provision can be made. Article 341 of the Constitution of India, which finds place in Part XVI thereof provides for special provisions relating to certain classes of citizens. It reads as under: "341. Scheduled Castes.- (1) The President may with respect to any State or Union Territory, and where it is a State, after consultation with the Governor thereof, by public notification, specify the castes, races or tribes or parts of or groups within castes, races or tribes which shall for the purposes of this Constitution be deemed to be Scheduled Castes in relation to that State or Union territory, as the case may be. (2) Parliament may by law include in or exclude from the list of Scheduled Castes specified in a notification issued under clause (1) any caste, race or tribe or part of or group within any caste, race or tribe, but save as aforesaid a notification issued under the said clause shall not be varied by any subsequent notification." The terms 'Scheduled Castes' and 'Scheduled Tribes' have been defined in clauses (24) and (25) of Article 266 of the Constitution, which read as under: "(24) "Scheduled Castes" means such castes, r....
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....d Order reads as under: "2. The Tribes or tribal communities, or part of, or groups within, tribes or tribal communities, specified in Parts I to XXII of the Schedule to this Orders shall, in relation to the State to which those parts respectively relate, be deemed to be Scheduled Tribes so far as regards members thereof residents in the localities specified in relation to them respectively in those Parts of that Scheduled." 25. Indisputably, having regard to clause (2) of Article 341 as also of Article 342 of the Constitution tinkering with the said list is impermissible, save and except by a law made by the Parliament. Concededly, in respect of education or service, there exists a distinction between State Service and State run institutions including Union Territory Services and Union Territory run institutions on the one hand, and the Central Civil Services and the institutions run by the Central Government on the other. Whereas in the case of the former, the reservation whether for admission or appointment in an institution and employment or appointment in the services or posts in a State or Union Territory must confine to the members of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled T....
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....ts to the Constitution. Benefits to the members of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and other backward classes may also be conferred by means of schemes formulated by the Central Government or the State Government. Article 341 of the Constitution of India does not make any distinction between a State and Union Territory except for the purpose of consultation with the Governor or the Administrator, as the case may be. Such consultation is necessary in view of the fact that it is for the State machinery to identify such Caste or Tribe who had suffered the centuries old ignominy and/ or suffered other disadvantages. It is possible for a State to point out that although a group of people may be belonging to a caste or Tribe which is otherwise backward but having regard to the social and economic advancement made by that group, they should be excluded. Persons belonging to a particular Caste or Tribe may suffer some disadvantages in one State but may not suffer the same disadvantages in the other. Our constitutional scheme, therefore, seeks to identify the social and economic backwardness of people having regard to the State or Union Territory as a unit. The same principle ap....
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....n application for his admission in the medical institutions run by Bombay Municipal Corporation which was denied in view of Circular dated 22.2.1985 issued by the Government of India. The Circular dated 22.2.1985 issued by the Government of India, inter alia, read as under : "It is also clarified that a Scheduled Caste/Tribe person who has migrated from the State of origin to some other State for the purpose of seeking education, employment etc. will be deemed to be a Scheduled Caste/Tribe of the State of his origin and will be entitled to derive benefits from the State of origin and not from the State to which he has migrated." The question which was posed was the effect of specification by the President of the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes, as the case may be, for the State or Union territory or part of the State. Noticing that the specification was "for the purposes of this Constitution", it was found to be necessary to determine what the expression 'in relation to that State' seeks to convey. 28. This Court noticed not only the various provisions of the Constitution but also the earlier decisions governing the field as well as the views of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar in the Co....
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....15(1), 15(4), 16(1), 16(4), 19, Part XVI of the Constitution of India and the decisions governing the field as also Articles 341 and 342 thereof opined that Marri Chandra Shekhar Rao lays down the correct law, holding : "15. We may add that considerations for specifying a particular caste or tribe or class for inclusion in the list of Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes or backward classes in a given State would depend on the nature and extent of disadvantages and social hardships suffered by that caste, tribe or class in that State which may be totally non-est in another State to which persons belonging thereto may migrate. Coincidentally it may be that a caste or tribe bearing the same nomenclature is specified in two States but the considerations on the basis of which they have been specified may be totally different. So also the degree of disadvantages of various elements which constitute the input for specification may also be totally different. Therefore, merely because a given caste is specified in State A as a Scheduled Caste does not necessarily mean that if there be another caste bearing the same nomenclature in another State the person belonging to the former would be ....
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....g two model forms of the certificate to be furnished by the OBC candidates seeking benefit of reservations and the form appended thereto, it was held: "A careful reading of this notification would indicate that the OBCs would be recognised as such in the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi as notified in the Notification dated 20.01.1995 and further for the purpose of verification of claims for belonging to castes/communities in Delhi as per the list notified by the National Capital Territory of Delhi the certificates will have to be issued only by the specified authorities and certificates issues by any other authority could not be accepted." This Court opined: "The only additional aspects stated by them in their respective applications or in the Certificates supported thereto is that they belong to OBC categories. Hence, their cases ought to have been considered in the general category as if they do not belong to OBC categories in the circumstances arising in this case." There the candidature of those candidates were directed to be considered as a general category candidate. 32. The said principle was reiterated in U.P. Public Service Commission, Allahabad vs....
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....ould be treated as 'Halbas'. In this view the High Court could not upset the finding of fact in exercise of its writ jurisdiction. Hence, we have to essentially answer the question no. 2 also in the negative. Hence it is answered accordingly." Milind (supra), therefore, is an authority for the proposition that neither practice prevailing in a State nor the decisions of the High Court which are otherwise binding on the State would create a right in a person to obtain the benefit of reservation in the teeth of provisions of Articles 341 and 342 of the Constitution. It was furthermore stated: "35. The arguments advanced before the High Court on behalf of an intervener relying on Articles 162, 256 to 258 and 339(2) of the Constitution of India that instructions issued by the Central Government in the matter have overriding effect over the instructions issued by the State Government, was lightly brushed aside on the ground that this aspect assured little importance in the view taken by the High Court that the State Government was bound by the circulars issued by it. We have already expressed above the view in the light of Articles 341 and 342 of the Constitution that a Sche....
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.... different classes of people based on their respective castes would also be violative of the doctrine of reasonableness. Article 341 provides that exclusion even of a part or a group of castes from the Presidential List can be done only by the Parliament. The logical corollary thereof would be that the State Legislatures are forbidden from doing that. A uniform yardstick must be adopted for giving benefits to the members of the Scheduled Castes for the purpose of Constitution. The impugned legislation being contrary to the above constitutional scheme cannot, therefore, be sustained." In a separate but concurring judgment, one of us (S.B. Sinha, J.) opined as under: "62. It is true that by reason of Article 341 of the Constitution of India no benefit other than expressly provided for in the Constitution, as, for example, Article 320 or Article 322, had been conferred on a member of Scheduled Caste. It is also not in doubt or dispute that the State has the legislative competence to provide for reservations both in the field of public services as also education. Article 15(4) and Article 335 expressly refer to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Clause (4) of Article 16 al....
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....f India under Articles 341 and 342 of the Constitution. The President may, after consultation with the Governor, by public notification, specify the castes, races or tribes or parts of or groups within castes, races or tribes which for the purpose of the Constitution shall be deemed to be Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes. Once the notification is issued, they are deemed to be the members of Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes, whichever is applicable. In E.V. Chinnaiah concurring with the majority judgment, S.B. Sinha, J. said: "The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes occupy a special place in our Constitution. The President of India is the sole repository of the power to specify the castes, races or tribes or parts of or groups within castes, races or tribes which shall for the purposes of the Constitution be deemed to be Scheduled Castes. The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 made in terms of Article 341(1) is exhaustive. The object of Articles 341 and 342 is to provide for grant of protection to the backward class of citizens who are specified in the Scheduled Castes Order and Scheduled Tribes Order having regard to the economic and education backwardness wher....
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....a has conveyed its decision on the point vide its circular letter dated 26.8.1986 which has not been modified. Therefore, the instructions contained in the said letter which were admittedly being followed till 7.9.1999, in our view, continue to be in force. There is no reasonable basis to discontinue the said decision with effect from 7.9.1999. No reason or basis has been disclosed for discontinuing the same with effect from the said date." Indisputably, the Division Bench noticed a decision of this Court in State of Maharashtra vs. Kumari Tanuja [(1999) 2 SCC 462], to opine: "12. In the present case we have noticed that the Government of India instructions contained in circular dated 26.8.1986 specifically permit that a recognised Scheduled Caste/Schedule Tribe of any other State or Union Territory would be entitled to the benefits and facilities provided for SC/ST in the services in the Union Territory of Chandigarh. This letter is specifically addressed by the Government of India to the Home Secretary, Chandigarh Administration and deals with employment in the Union Territory of Chandigarh. Therefore, there is no reason to ignore the instructions contained in the said ....
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....outside the U.T. of Pondicherry would also be eligible for posts reserved for SC/ST candidates in Pondicherry administration. Therefore, right from the inception, this policy is being consistently followed by the Pondicherry administration whereunder migrant SC/ST candidates are held to be eligible for reserved posts in Pondicherry administration. 37. It was furthermore held that in a case of that nature even clause (4) of Article 16 would be attracted, stating: "21. Clauses (1) and (2) of Article 16 guarantee equality of opportunity to all citizens in the matter of appointment to any office or of any other employment under the State. Clauses (3) to (5), however, lay down several exceptions to the above rule of equal opportunity. Article 16(4) is an enabling provision and confers a discretionary power on the State to make reservation in the matter of appointments in favour of "backward classes of citizens" which in its opinion are not adequately represented either numerically or qualitatively in services of the State. But it confers no constitutional right upon the members of the backward classes to claim reservation. Article 16(4) is not controlled by a Presidential Order issue....
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.... or Constitution (Scheduled Tribe) Order. Once a person comes within the purview of Presidential promulgation, he would be entitled to constitutional and other statutory or administrative benefits attached thereto. In our opinion, such socio political rights created in our Constitution cannot be segregated keeping in view the administrative exigencies. 38. If the principle applied in S. Pushpa (supra) is to be given a logical extension, it will lead to an absurdity, that the Scheduled Castes Order in a State brought under the control of the President under Article 356 could be altered by virtue of a notification issued in pursuance of Article 16(4) of the Constitution. Clause (4) of Article 16 of the Constitution, as noticed hereinbefore, cannot be made applicable for the purpose of grant of benefit of reservation for Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes in a State or Union Territory, who have migrated to another State or Union Territory and they are not members of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. By virtue of Article 341, the Presidential orders made under clause (1) thereof acquire an overriding status. But for Articles 341 and 342 of the Constitution, it would have b....
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.... (or Sikh or the Buddhist) Religion shall be deemed to be a member of a Scheduled Castes. Any reference in this order to a Union Territories in part 1 of the Schedule shall be construed as a reference to the territory constituted as a Union Territory as from the first day of November, 1956, any reference to a Union Territory in part II of the Schedule shall be construed as a reference to the territory constituted as a Union Territory as from the first day of the November, 1966 and any reference to a Union Territory in part III of the Schedule shall be construed as a reference to the territory constituted as a Union Territory as from the day appointed under clause (b) of the Section 2 of the Goa, Daman and Diu Reorganization Act, 1987." 40. Both the Central Government and the State Government indisputably may lay down a policy decision in regard to reservation having regard to Articles 15 and 16 of the Constitution of India but such a policy cannot violate other constitutional provisions. A policy cannot have primacy over the constitutional scheme. If for the purposes of Articles 341 and 342 of the Constitution of India, State and the Union Territory are at par on the ground of ....
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....icle 246 of the Constitution will, thus, have no application where law making power is not resorted to. Executive instructions contained in Article 77 and Article 162 refer to the law making power alone. No material has been placed before the High Court or before us to show that the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes candidates migrated from another State having regard to their socio economic position in Delhi were required to be treated as backward classes We are unable to accept the contention that the members of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes notified as such in other States would come within the purview of the backward classes within the meaning of clause (4) of Article 16 of the Constitution of India. If a caste or tribe is notified in terms of the Scheduled Caste Order or Scheduled Tribe Order, the same must be done in terms of clause (1) of Article 341 as also that of 342 of the Constitution of India, as the case may be. No deviation from the procedure laid down therein is permissible in law. If any amendment/alteration thereto is required to be made, recourse to the procedure laid down under clause (2) thereof must be resorted to. Reservations have been made in te....
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....n of India read with the executive instructions issued by the National Capital Territory of Delhi in this behalf which has the force of law in terms whereof only the classes of persons who would be entitled thereto were determined. By judicial process or otherwise, the said executive instructions which are consistent with the constitutional scheme could not have brought about an altogether different situation as a result whereof those who are residents of Delhi being belonging to the members of the Scheduled Castes and, thus, entitled to be regarded within the framework of the quota provided for by the Government could not have been deprived therefrom by way of bringing in another class of persons within the purview of the said category of Scheduled Castes who are not entitled to the said benefit. By reason of such an Act, those who are entitled to the benefit of the doctrine of protective discrimination contained in Clause (4) of Article 16 of the Constitution of India had been deprived of their constitutional right. Once it is found that the constitutional violation of this nature has been committed, in our opinion, the Courts would be entitled to apply the principle of strict sc....
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....s where strict scrutiny test would be applicable. Ashok Kumar Thakur (supra) solely relies upon Saurabh Chaudri to clarify the applicability of strict scrutiny and does not make an independent sweeping observation in that regard. We are of the opinion that in respect of the following categories of cases, the said test may be applied: 1. Where a statute or an action is patently unreasonable or arbitrary. [See Mithu v. State of Punjab [(1983) 2 SCC 277]. 2. Where a statute is contrary to the constitutional scheme. [See E.V. Chinniah (supra)]. 3. Where the general presumption as regards the constitutionality of the statute or action cannot be invoked. 4. Where a statute or execution action causes reverse discrimination. 5. Where a statute has been enacted restricting the rights of a citizen under Article 14 or Article 19 as for example clauses (1) to (6) of Article 19 of the Constitution of India as in those cases, it would be for the State to justify the reasonableness thereof. 6. Where a statute seeks to take away a person's life and liberty which is protected under Article 21 of the Constitution of India or otherwise infringes the core human right. 7. Where a ....
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....ave objectively laid down policy attributes so much so that the targeted benefits are accrued to parts of polity for which they are meant. As the final arbiter on constitutional interpretation, the court is duty bound to delineate the four corners of the legislative policy which is amenable to the constitutional epithets of equality as also to Article 21. The state has to play within the rules set by the court in this regard. It must be borne in mind at this juncture that in reality, various kinds of rights do not operate independently of each other. And importantly, when State puts its weight behind any particular set of rights by showing compelling interest, the courts have to ensure that the transfer or accrual of benefits as a result of the State action does not end up abrogating the competing rights of others to an unnecessary extent. The constitutional grant of power to state in this respect is channeled by the mandate of this court on the front of implementation. First responsibility of the court is to determine whether the ends purported to be sought by the executive are "compelling." This process is under the intense gaze of the court because the government is imp....
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....e functioning of the legislature are mentioned by a prominent political science scholar, John Hart Ely in his landmark book, Democracy and Distrust. He says that "special scrutiny, in particular its demand for an essentially perfect fit, turns out to be a way of 'flushing out' unconstitutional motivation." Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's in Johnson v. California, 543 U.S. 499, 505 (2005) observed that "racial classifications raise special fears that they are motivated by an invidious purpose" and that strict scrutiny is designed "to 'smoke out' illegitimate uses of race by assuring that the executive is pursuing a goal important enough to warrant use of a highly suspect tool." Protective discrimination may be used to curtail the extremely hard won civil and political rights granted by the Constitution. We have the backdrop of freedom struggle to engage with in this regard. Rights of the accused as part of the fair trial rights, equality rights, right to liberty and personal autonomy and other such rights are to be fiercely protected against any blind policy onslaught of the times. The government must have a overwhelming compelling interest to justify limitati....
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.... The Constitution Bench, in no uncertain terms, based its decision on the touchstone of the `equality clause' contained in Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India. Emphasis has been laid at more than one place for making appointments only upon giving an opportunity to all concerned. Appointment through side-door has been held to be constitutionally impermissible." [See also Oriental Insurance Company Limited v. Mohd. Nasir and Another (2009) 6 SCC 280] In Black's Law Dictionary, 8th edition, 2004, it is stated: "There is at least one exception to the rule of stare decisis. I refer to judgments rendered per incuriam. A judgment per incuriam is one which has been rendered inadvertently. Two examples come to mind: first, where the judge has forgotten to take account of a previous decision to which the d octrine of s tare decisis a pplies. For all the care with which attorneys and judges may comb the case law, errare humanum est, and sometimes a judgment which clarifies a point to be settled is somehow not indexed, and is forgotten. It is in cases such as these that a judgment rendered in contradiction to a previous judgment that should have been considered binding, and....
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....rth consideration will be whether any reasons have been advanced in the appeal which were not considered in deciding the precedent. This category could arguably be included in many circumstances, either in the first category as a form of distinguishing, or in the second category if the omission is sufficiently serious to cause the precedent to be per incuriam. All of the first four considerations have traditionally been accepted as exempting subsequent appellate courts from the obligation to follow precedent." 50. In the context of overruling the two leading precedents {de Freitas v. Benny [1976] AC 239 and Reckley v. Minister of Public Safety and Immigration (No. 2) [1996] A.C.527} which had held the exercise of the prerogative of mercy to be non-justiciable, Lord Slynn of Hadley in Lewis v. Att. Gen. Of Jamaica [2001] 2 AC 50 at p. 75, stated: "The need for legal certainty demands that they should be very reluctant to depart from recent fully reasoned decisions unless there are strong grounds to do so. But no less should they be prepared to do so when a man's life is at stake, where the death penalty is involved, if they are satisfied that the earlier cases adop....
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....e very existence of a binding contract, or of its scope and character, assuming there to have been one. It does not seem to be a good idea to proceed in this way, and at end of day there is therefore a strong case for regarding the decision as having been given per incuriam in their Lordships' attention had never been adequately directed to either the relevant facts or the relevant law." [See A Decision Per Incuriam? -Prof.A.W.Brian Simpson, The Law Quarterly Review, volume 125, July 2009, p.433] 54. We have noticed hereinbefore that the premise on which S. Pushpa (supra) was rendered, namely, Marri Chandra Shekhar Rao (supra), had no application to union territories was not correct. 55. Would we be violating the norms of judicial discipline in ignoring the decision of this Court in Pushpa is the question, having regard to the provisions contained in Article 141 of the Constitution of India? 56. The question is a difficult one. On the one hand, this Court emphasizes the need for speaking in one voice and/or adhering to the doctrine of certainty so as not only to enable this Court but also the High Court and the subordinate courts to know exactly what the law is and, on th....
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....oubt, needs correction or reconsideration then by way of exception (and not as a rule) and for reasons given by it, it may proceed to hear the case and examine the correctness of the previous decision in question dispensing with the need of a specific reference or the order of Chief Justice constituting the Bench and such listing. Such was the situation in Raghubir Singh and Ors. and Hansoli Devi and Ors. (supra)." 58. Yet again, recently in Nagar Palika Nigam v. Krishi Upaj Mandi Samiti & Ors. [(2008 AIR SCW 7914] having regard to the provisions of Order VII Rule 2 of the Supreme Court Rules, 1966, this Court refused to allow the appellant therein to raise the question of vires of a statute as such a contention had not been raised before the High Court. 59. The question came up for consideration before a Three Judge Bench in Official Liquidator v. Dayanand & Ors. [(2008) 10 SCC 1], wherein the necessity to maintain judicial discipline was reiterated, stating : "90. We are distressed to note that despite several pronouncements on the subject, there is substantial increase in the number of cases involving violation of the basics of judicial discipline. The learned Single Judges ....