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2025 Supreme(Gau) 1366

IN THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT (HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH)
DEVASHIS BARUAH, J.
The State Of Assam And Ors – Appellants 
Versus
Abani Uzir, S/o Late Bilash Uzir – Respondent 
Review.Pet. 116 of 2025
Decided on : 04-08-2025

Advocates Appeared:
For the Appellant : Ms. R. Deka, SC, Water Resource

A review petition cannot be entertained on the basis of technical non-joinder of parties when the original order was passed after proper representation and consideration.

Headnote:(A) Legal principles relating to review applications and party joinder in administrative law - Review petition challenging a prior order that directed the release of funds under a scheme, with arguments presented about the non-joinder of the Ministry of Jal Shakti. The court found that the Ministry was adequately represented and no objection regarding party joinder was raised. (Paras 3-6)

(B) Review Jurisdiction - The discretion to review an order must be exercised judiciously and cannot be based solely on technical grounds of non-compliance by petitioners. The court emphasized that failure to implead necessary parties cannot detract from the merits of the original ruling and does not warrant a review of the order. (Paras 6-7)

Facts of the case:
The review application arose out of a previous order which mandated the State of Assam to communicate budgetary approvals and process pending bills related to a particular scheme. The petitioners claimed that the non-compliance was due to non-receipt of funds from the Ministry.

Findings of Court:
The Ministry of Jal Shakti was represented, and the petitioners were cautioned that non-joinder of necessary parties does not provide grounds for reviewing the original order.

Issues: Whether the failure to join the Ministry of Jal Shakti would justify a review of the order.

Ratio Decidendi: The court held that the original order was valid despite the non-joinder of the Ministry, and review was unjustified on technical grounds alone.

Result: Review Petition dismissed.

Table of Content
1. review petition challenges prior court order. (Para 1 , 2)
2. arguments regarding non-joinder of ministry of jal shakti. (Para 3 , 4)
3. court’s findings on order implementation issues. (Para 5 , 6)
4. no sufficient grounds for order review. (Para 7)
5. dismissal of review petition. (Para 8)

JUDGMENT :

DEVASHIS BARUAH, J.

Heard Ms. R. Deka, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the review petitioners.

2. The present review application has been filed challenging the common order dated 27.09.2022 passed in WP(C) No.4311/2021 whereby the learned Coordinate Bench of this Court after hearing the learned counsel for the parties in the said writ petition along with the batch of connected writ petitions passed the following order:-

“(1) Within 15 (fifteen) days from today, the concerned official of the State Government of Assam will communicate the supplementary budget passed in the last Assembly Session pertaining to the scheme to the competent authority of the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India.

(2) Within 60 (sixty) days from the date of receipt of such communication, the Ministry of Jal Shakti to release the amount due under the schemes to the concerned Department of the Government of Assam.

(3) Upon receipt of the amount, bills of the writ petitioners shall be processed and cleared within a further period of 45 days.

In view of the directions issued herein above, the respondents to complete the entire process within a period of four months from today.

A copy of this order be furnished to Mr. B. Goswami, learned Addl. Advocate General, Assam and Mr. R. K. Dev Choudhury, learned DSGI.

The written instructions dated 26.09.2022 be kept as a part of the record of this case.

All these writ petitions stand disposed of accordingly.”

3. By referring to the order dated 27.09.2022, Ms. R. Deka, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the review petitioners has argued that the review petition arises out of the common order dated 27.09.2022 passed in the connected writ petitions wherein, the Ministry of Jal Shakti was not made a party.

4. Contending that the pending bills could not be cleared by the State of Assam due to non-receipt of the share of contribution coming from the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Union of India, Ms. R. Deka, the learned counsel for the review petitioners submits that these writ petitions are required to be heard afresh after serving notice upon the Ministry of Jal Shakti. Ms. R. Deka, the learned counsel for the review petitioners has, however, candidly submitted that the order dated 27.09.2022 passed by this Court even in respect of those writ petitions where the Ministry of Jal Shakti was impleaded as party, has not been complied with till today.

5. Be that as it may, this Court finds that by the order dated 27.09.2022 direction was also issued to the Ministry of Jal Shakti to release the amount due under the scheme. The Ministry of Jal Shakti was duly represented by Mr. R. K. Dev Choudhury, learned Deputy Solicitor General of India but no objection was raised by the learned counsel for the respondents on the ground of non- joinder of necessary party. Moreover, the said Ministry has also not sought any review of the order.

6. It was for the petitioners to implead the Ministry of Jal Shakti and if they had failed to do so resulting in a situation where the order dated 27.09.2022 cannot be implemented on technical grounds, even then, it would be for the writ petitioners to face the consequences. The same cannot, however, be a ground for this Court to review/ recall the order dated 27.09.2022, which was passed by this Court after hearing the learned counsel for the parties including the Deputy Solicitor General of India representing the Ministry of Jal Shakti in the Union of India as well as the Brahmaputra Board.

7. For the reasons stated herein above, this Court does not find any good ground to review the order dated 27.09.2022.

8. Consequently, the Review Petition is held to be devoid of any merit. The sa

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