JUDGMENT

Srinivasan, J.-The respondent was an Army Officer of the rank of Lt. Col. and was posted as Commanding Officer under 116 Engineer Regiment, with head quarter, 17 Mta. Arty. Brde. Nine charges were framed against him on 24.6.1995 and General Court Martial was held from 1.7.95 to 10.11.95. He was found guilty on charges 2, 3, 8 and 9. He filed Crl. Writ Petition No. 1 of 1995 in the High Court of Sikkim on 11.12.95. Thereafter on 2.3.1996 the order of the Court Martial was confirmed under Section 154 of the Army Act. By judgment dated 9.8.96 the High Court allowed the writ petition and quashed the order of the Court Martial. The appellant has preferred this appeal against the judgment of the High Court.

2. The main contention of the appellant is that the High Court has exceeded its power of judicial review under Article 226 and acted as a court of appeal by discussing and appreciating the evidence. Reliance is placed on Nagendra Nath Bora v. The Commissioner of Hills Diven and Appeals1 wherein this court held that the High Court had no power under Article 226 to issue a writ of certiorari in order to quash an error of fact, even though it may be apparent on face of the record unless there is an error of law which is apparent on the face of the record. The court observed that the jurisdiction of the High Court is limited to seeing that the judicial or quasi-judicial tribunals or administrative bodies exercising quasi-judicial powers do not exceed their statutory jurisdiction and correctly administer the law laid down by the Statute under which they act.

3. In H.S. and I.E. Board, U.P. v. Bagleshwar2, the court held that an order passed by a Tribunal holding a quasi judicial enquiry which is not supported by any evidence is an order which is erroneous on the face of it and as such is liable to be quashed by the High Court under Article 226. In Parry & Co. v. Judge, 2nd I.T. Cal.3 the court held that a writ is granted generally when a court has acted without or in excess of its jurisdiction or where the Tribunal acts in flagrant disregard of the rules of procedure or violates the principle of natural justice where no particular procedure is prescribed.

4. In Bhagat Ram v. State of H.P.4 the court held that where a finding of the disciplinary authority is utterly perverse, the High Court can interfere with the same.

5. In S.N. Mukherjee v. Union of India5, the Constitution Bench dealt with a case wherein the appellant had challenged the validity of the finding and the sentence recorded by the General Court Martial and the order of the Chief of Army Staff confirming the same. The court held that the Supreme Court under Article 32 and the High Court under Article 226 have the power of judicial review in respect of proceedings of courts martial and the proceedings subsequent thereto and can grant appropriate relief if the said proceedings have resulted in denial of the fundamental rights guaranteed under Part III of the Constitution or if the said proceedings suffer from a jurisdictional error or any error of law apparent on the face of the record. After elaborately considering the provisions of the Army Act and Rules, the court pointed out that at the stage of recording of findings and sentence the Court Martial is not required to record its reasons. It will be advantageous to extract the following passage in the judgment:

"From the provisions referred to above it is evident that the judge-advocate plays an important role during the course of trial at general court martial and he is enjoined to maintain an impartial position. The court martial records its findings after the judge-advocate has summed up the evidence and has given his opinion upon the legal bearing of the case. The members of the court have to express their opinion as to the finding by word of mouth or each charge separately and the finding on each charge is to be recorded simply as a finding of "guilty" or of "not guilty". It is also required that the sentence