The court emphasized the necessity of providing a hearing before passing orders affecting parties' rights, reinforcing the supervisory nature of Article 227 over judicial decisions.

JUDGMENT :

Sujit Narayan Prasad, J.

Prayer:

1. The instant writ petition has been filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India challenging the order dated 03.08.2024 passed in C.B.C. Case no. 17 of 2024 by the learned Presiding Officer, Coal Bearing Tribunal at Ranchi, where and whereunder, the order to maintain status quo has been granted in favour of the respondent against the petitioner till the disposal of the matter.

Factual Matrix:

2. The brief facts of the case as has been enumerated in the writ petition is required to be referred herein, as under:

M/s Adani Enterprises Ltd. is a company incorporated under the provisions of the Company Act and the respondent was allocated the Gondulpara Coal Block, Jharkhand through auction by the Ministry of Coal.

The Central Government issued an order dated 06.01.2020 and 14.05.2020 as amended to the Nominated Authority for auction of the coal mine for sale of coal. Earlier on 24.06.2009, the petitioner no.1 approved the mine plan which was cancelled by the Hon’ble Supreme Court and thereafter, a tender was issued in 2020 inviting prospective bidders for allotment of coal blocks in which respondent Adani Enterprises Ltd. on 28.12.2020 emerged as the successful bidder of Gondulpara Coal Mines and letter of declaration was issued to the respondent. Thereafter, Coal Mine Development and Production Agreement was executed between the petitioners and the respondent company on 11.01.2021. Subsequently, vesting order was issued in favour of the respondent company on 08.03.2021.

It is the case of the respondent that it had taken all possible steps but during the performance of the activities required to be undertaken to achieve Milestone-2, the company encountered certain circumstances and events which resulted in delay in achievement of the said milestone and in the light of the statement mentioned in the petition under Section 27(i) of the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015, the prayer has been made for declaring the recommendation of the Scrutiny Committee in its 22nd meeting on 08.05.2024 to appropriate the bank guarantee and to restrain the petitioner from taking any coercive steps in furtherance of the said recommendation.

The petition was registered as C.B. Case No. 17 of 2024 and subsequently an injunction petition was filed by the respondent on 29.06.2024 stating therein all the facts and for grant of ex-parte/ad-interim relief.

The Scrutiny Committee held its 22nd meeting dated 08.05.2024 and considered the case of the respondent wherein it has been observed to have considered the show cause notice dated 30.09.2022 for delay in approval of mining plan/project report and corresponding reply dated 27.09.2022 and upon deliberation, allottee was found responsible for delay in obtaining mining plan approval and recommended for appropriation of PBG.

The C.B. case No. 17 of 2024 was registered and by order dated 02.07.2024, the said case was admitted for hearing and direction was issued to file requisites for appearance of opposite party and the matter was posted for order in the stay application.

It is the case of the petitioner that the copy of the petition was served and objection was filed on behalf of the petitioner on 09.07.2024 and on the same day hearing was done on stay application and the learned Tribunal observed that the petition for seeking injunction against the recommendation of the Scrutiny Committee is kept in abeyance till passing of any order by the Nominated Authority regarding appropriation of the bank guarantee.

It is the case of the petitioner that the learned Tribunal has considered the petition dated 03.08.2024 and without hearing the counsel for the petitioner, the order has been passed in favour of the respondent to maintain status quo till the disposal of the matter even though there was a condolence on the said date.

It is also the case of the petitioner that immediately thereafter on 03.08.2024, an application for stay of operation of the order passed by the n