In an important judgment on the preservation of the autonomy of statutory bodies set up under the law, the Supreme Court has said no functionary of the government, not even the chief minister, can supersede decisions taken by such bodies in the course of implementing the policies of the state.
Deciding the important question related to the scope of the government’s interference in the functioning of a statutory body, the Supreme Court said “the law on the question can be summarised to the effect that no higher authority in the hierarchy or an appellate or revisional authority can exercise the power of the statutory authority, nor can superior authority mortgage its wisdom and direct the statutory authority to act in a particular manner”.
The ruling came in a 31-year-old land allotment dispute where the UP CM in 1979 had interfered in the decision of the autonomous Ghaziabad Development Authority’ and directed it to allot a plot of land to one Manohar Lal in a commercial area when there was a dispute over his application for such allotment.
Disapproving of the CM’s interference, which was the competent authority to take any decision on Lal’s application, a bench comprising Justices B.S. Chauthan and Swatanter Kumar said, “If appellate or revisional authority takes upon itself the task of the statutory authority and passes an order, it remains unenforceable for the reason that it cannot be termed to be an order passed under the act.”