2008 (3) TMI 287

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....sultant reiterated the contention raised in the appeal. Therefore, the order passed by the ld. Commissioner (Appeals) neither being speaking nor reasoned is unsustainable. Heard ld. JDR, Shri S.B. Shinde who supported the order passed by the ld. Appellate Authority below. 3. Heard both sides and perused the case records. The impugned order shows that a mechanical order was typed out leaving two blank space to be filled up. One was relating to the date of hearing and the other was name of the Consultant who appeared for hearing before the Authority. Also the Appellate Order was signed without any date by a Public servant engaged in Administration of justice. Added to this, top portion of the body of the impugned order was still left blank....

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.... on considerations of policy or expediency. The requirement of recording of reasons by such authorities is an important safeguard to ensure observance of the rule of law. It introduces clarity, checks the introduction of extraneous or irrelevant considerations and minimizes arbitrariness in the decision making process. Another reason which makes it imperative for the quasi-judicial authorities to give reasons is that their orders are not only subject to the right of the aggrieved persons to challenge the same by filing statutory appeal and revision but also by filing writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution. Such decisions can also be challenged by way of appeal under Article 136 of the Constitution of India. The High Courts have....

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....es v. Central Board of Direct Taxes [1976] 102 ITR 281 (SC); AIR 1976 SC 437; (7) Siemens Engineering and Manufacturing Co. of India Ltd. v. Union of India, AIR 1976 SC 1785; (8) S.N. Mukherjee v. Union of India, AIR 1990 SC 1984; (9) Shanti Prasad Agarwalla v. Union of India, AIR 1991 SC 814; (10) Krishna Swami v. Union of India, AIR 1993 SC 1407; and (11) M.L. Jaggi v. Mahanagar Telephones Nigam Ltd., AIR 1996 SC 2476. 8. In Testeels Ltd. v. N.M. Desai, Conciliation Officer, [1970] 37 FJR 7; AIR 1970 Guj 1, a Full Bench of the Gujarat High Court has made an extremely lucid enunciation of the law on the subject and we can do no better than to extract some of the observations made in that deci....