1. Challenge to tribunal judgments where some judgments were written after a member of the Bench had retired. (Para 1 )
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1999 Supreme(SC) 1251
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
S.P.Bharucha : V.N.Khare
Toyo Engineering India Limited, Bombay
Versus
Collector Of Customs, Bombay
Case No. : 4955 of 1994
Date of Decision : 10/27/99
A judgment delivered by a Bench is invalid if some of the members wrote their opinions after another member of the same Bench had retired.
Headnote:(A) Procedural Law - Validity of Judgment - Judgments and order passed by a Bench where some members wrote their judgments after another member of the same Bench had retired cannot stand. (Para 1)
Facts of the case:
A matter was heard by a five-member Bench. Four separate judgments were written. It was an admitted position that three of these judgments were written after the writer of the fourth judgment had retired.
Findings of Court:
The judgments and order under challenge are unsustainable and cannot stand.
Issues: Whether a judgment delivered by a Bench is legally valid if some members of the Bench wrote their opinions after another member of the same Bench had retired.
Ratio Decidendi: A judgment and order cannot be sustained if the members of the Bench did not concurrently participate in the finalization of the judgment, specifically where some members wrote their opinions after another member of the Bench had retired. (Para 1)
Result: Appeal allowed.
Legal Category Hierarchy
Table of Contents
2. Validity of tribunal judgments — Whether judgments written after the retirement of a member of the Bench are legally sustainable. (Para 1 )
3. Judgments and orders cannot stand if some judgments were written after the writer of another judgment on the same Bench had retired. (Para 1 )
4. A tribunal's judgment is invalid if members of the Bench write their respective judgments after another member of that Bench has retired. (Para 1 )
5. Appeal allowed and matter restored to the Tribunal for fresh hearing and disposal by a newly constituted Bench. (Para 2 )
6. Does the retirement of a member of a tribunal Bench before all judgments are written invalidate the final order?
Yes, if some judgments are written after a member of the Bench has retired, the judgments and order cannot stand. (Para 1 )
S.P.BHARUCHA, J.
(1) THE judgments and order under challenge are of the Customs, Excise and Gold (Control) Appellate Tribunal. Four separate judgments were written by the Bench of five learned Members which heard the matter. It is an admitted position that three of these judgments were written after the writer of the fourth judgment had retired. Plainly, the judgments and order cannot stand.
(2) THE appeal is allowed on this short ground and the matter (A. No. 0/164/89-B2) is restored to the file of the Tribunal to be heard and disposed of afresh, expeditiously, by a Bench to be constituted under the directions of its President.
(3) NO order as to costs
