V. Savarimuthu v. Spl. Director of Enforcement, and Another
1985-08-22
NAINAR SUNDARAM
body1985
DigiLaw.ai
Judgment :- The matter comes up for orders regarding maintainability. Against the order impugned in this revision under Art.227 of the Constitution, the petitioner has the remedy of and ought to have resorted to a regular appeal before the Foreign Exchange Regulation Appellate Board under S.52, Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (46 of 1973), hereinafter referred to as the'Act'. He has not done so. On the ground that the impugned order ignores the policy of the Government and certain instructions issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes, the petitioner wants to invoke the extraordinary jurisdiction of this Court under Art.227 of the Constitution. 2. The power under Art.227 is an extraordinary power, and it requires to be exercised sparingly and with extreme caution. It is a power of superintendence reserved for this Court and is subject to its discretion and it cannot be claimed as of right by any party. By now, it has been settled by pronouncements of the highest Court in the land as to when this Court could properly resort. to and exercise the powers under Art.227. The well accepted contingencies and features to warrant the exercise of such powers are (i) lack of jurisdiction, erroneous assumption of jurisdiction or excess or jurisdiction or refusal to exercise jurisdiction; (ii) Grave dereliction of duty or flagrant violation of law or error of law apparent on the face of the record as. distinguished from a mere mistake of law or an erroneous decision of law; (iii) violation of the principles of natural justice; (iv) perverse finding founded on no material whatsoever; and (v) arbitrary or capricious exercise of authority or discretion. I am not able to spell out that this is a case where one or more of the above contingencies exist. In a recent pronouncement of the Supreme Court in Mohd. Yunus v. Mohd. Mustaqim, adverting to the supervisory jurisdiction of High Courts under Art.227 of the Constitution, it has been observed as follows - "A mere wrong decision without anything more is not enough to attract the jurisdiction of the High Court under Art.227.
In a recent pronouncement of the Supreme Court in Mohd. Yunus v. Mohd. Mustaqim, adverting to the supervisory jurisdiction of High Courts under Art.227 of the Constitution, it has been observed as follows - "A mere wrong decision without anything more is not enough to attract the jurisdiction of the High Court under Art.227. The supervisory jurisdiction conferred on the High Courts under Art.22 of the Constitution is limited'to seeing that an inferior court or Tribunal functions within the limits of its authority'........." * Furthermore, I do not get any convincing explanation set out anywhere in the papers filed in this case as to why the petitioner could not resort to the appellate, process. This court under Art.227 does not assume and exercise appellate or revisional powers even on a question of law. The impugned order is dt. 27-6-1984, and there is no special circumstance pleaded even for approaching this Court so belatedly under Art.227, assuming there is a case for exercise of such power. The petitioner did have an adequate alternative remedy of a statutory appeal and this remedy is more comprehensive than the one under Art.227. If he did not avail of the same; he cannot so naively, in the absence of extraordinary and special circumstances, seek the process under Art.227. The petitioner has to blame himself for the position in which he is placed and the situation which he is now facing. I must also take note of the fact that as against the decision of the Appellate Board under S.52 of the Act, there is a further remedy under S.54 of the Act. 3. In the said circumstances, the revision cannot be maintained and accordingly the same is rejected.