High CourtDivision BenchAppeals allowed; remanded to High Court for fre...

Narinder Singh v. State of Haryana and Ors.

Case / Petition Number:Civil Appeal No. 4282 of 2006; C.A. No. 4283/2006

Case Details & Bench

Court
High Court
Hon'ble Judges
  • Arijit Pasayat
  • Lokeshwar Singh Pant
Judgment Date
2006-09-27
Court Decision / Holding
The appeals are allowed. The High Court’s order is set aside and the case is remanded to the High Court for fresh disposal in accordance with law. Counter-affidavits, if any, should be filed within four weeks, and the High Court is requested to decide the writ application as early as possible, preferably by the end of December 2006. There will be no order as to costs.
Final Disposition
Appeals allowed; remanded to High Court for fresh disposal in accordance with law; no order as to costs.

Parties to the Case

Appellants / Petitioners

  • Narinder Singh

Respondents

  • State of Haryana
  • Others

Legal Representation & Advocates

Counsels for Petitioners

  • • L.N. Rao
  • • Abhisth Kumar
  • • K.N. Tripathy
  • • Radha Shyam Jena

Counsels for Respondents

  • • Ajay Siwach
  • • T.V. George

Case Synopsis & Summary

The appeals challenge a Punjab and Haryana High Court decision that dismissed the writ petition in part (as it related to the appellants) while issuing notice to other writ petitioners. Central to the dispute is the Police Training College Manual and Rule 3.8, under which the petitioners claimed they were entitled to grace marks and that various submissions before the High Court were not properly considered. The High Court’s order reportedly restricted its consideration to a single point (Rule 3.8) and did not acknowledge the other pleas raised by the petitioners, or the broader context of their challenges to the training regimen, examination schedule, and opportunities for passing, including four chances versus two granted chances and alleged arbitrary actions in discharging candidates after limited opportunities. The Supreme Court found that the High Court failed to address the full breadth of submissions and did not indicate whether other pleas had merit, prompting its remand of the case for fresh disposal in accordance with law. The Court explicitly set aside the High Court’s order, directing the counter-affidavits (if any) and a prompt disposal, and clarified that it had not expressed a view on the merits of the other stands, while allowing the appeals.

Provisions of Law Cited

Rule 3.8 of the Police Training College Manual

Submissions & Arguments

Contentions of Appellants / Petitioners

The appellants contended that a comprehensive set of pleas raised before the High Court were not properly considered. They argued that the action of the respondents violated the Police Training College Manual, which prescribes four chances for examinations; the petitioners were being discharged after only two opportunities, which is arbitrary and illegal. They asserted that they were not allowed to complete the full one-year training, as the first examination was conducted at nine months. They claimed that even the timing of the second examination and the overall training process were unfair, with prior opportunities granted to other candidates. They argued that the High Court’s decision appeared to hinge solely on Rule 3.8 and did not address the broader pleas, and that the matter required a holistic consideration of all grounds rather than narrow fixation on a single point. The petitioners pressed for remand and a full re-evaluation in light of the entire record.

Contentions of Respondents

The State contended that the grounds raised by the petitioners were not legally sustainable and that the High Court appropriately handled the matter by focusing on Rule 3.8 of the Manual. It argued that it was open to the High Court to discard any grounds without substance and that the counter-affidavits should be filed to aid adjudication. The State asserted that the writ petition petitions have raised multiple claims that were unsustainable in law, and that the High Court cannot be compelled to decide on points that are unmerited. It highlighted the urgency of the matter, the absence of a completed record at the admission stage, and the need to decide the writ petition as early as possible, while denying the reliability of the other pleas raised by the petitioners.

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Extracted Judgment Text

Exact text extracted from official judgment records.

## NARINDER SINGH _v._ STATE OF HARY ANA AND ORS. SEPTEMBER 27, 2006 [ARIJIT PASA Y AT AND LOKESHWAR SINGH PANT A, JJ.) ## _Judgment:_ _Pleas raised by parties-Non-consideration of-Effect-High Court_ C _·arriving at a decision without considering the various pleas raised by the petitioner-Held: Not proper-Matter remitted back for fresh disposal._ The challenge in these appeals is to the decision of High Court dismissing the writ petition so far it related to the present appellants while issuing notice to the other writ petitioners. The grievance of appellants is D that they had made various submissions before the High Court which were not noticed and the writ petition was dismissed only on the ground that no benefit was available under Rule 3.8 of the Police Training College Manual. Allowing the appeal, the Court E HELD:.The High Court's order shows that it had not considered the various stands of the appellants. It also did not mention that no other point except that relating to Rule 3.8 of the Police Training ·college Manual was pressed into service. Had it been so, the grievance of the appellants would have been without any basis. It was open to the High Court to discard the plea. F But to restrict consideration to one point and not to others was certainly not a permissible course. It may be, that different pleas as raised are without any substance. But that should have been clearly indicated in the impugned order. That having not done so, the order of the High Court is set aside and the case remanded to it for a fresh disposal in accordance with law.1689-D-Fl G CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 4282 of2006. From the Final Judgment/Order dated 4.7.2005 of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh in Civil Writ Petition No. 9808/2005. H 687 _688_ SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2006] SUPP. 6 S.C.R. A ## WITH C.A. No. 4283/2006. L.N. Rao, Abhisth Kumar and K.N. Tripathy for the Appellant in _C.A. No. 428212006._ B Radha Shyam Jena for the Appellant in C.A. No. 4283/2006. Ajay Siwach and T.V. George for the Respondents. c The Judgment of the Court was delivered by " ARIJIT PASAYAT, J. Leave granted. Challenge in these appeals is to the judgment rendered by a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissing the writ petition so far as it related to the present appellants while issuing notice to the other two D writ petitioners. The High Court held that the present appellants are not entitled to the benefit in terms of Rule 3.8 of Police Training College Manual (in short the (, 'Manual') and thus not entitled to grant of grace marks. As noted supra, in ' E the case of co-writ petitioners notice was issued by the High Court. According to learned counsel for the appellants various submissions were made before the High Court which it did not notice and only on the ground that no benefit,; was available under Rule 3.8 of the Manual the writ petition was dismissed. Learned counsel for the respondent-State, however, supported the order F of the High Court. - So far as claim of different submissions made by the appellants as is - clear from a bare reading of the writ petition they were essentially as follows: "(i) That action of the respondents is contrary to the Police Training - G College Manual wherein four chances have been provided and services of the petitioners are being terminated only after granting two chances. - (ii) That the petitioners were not even allowed to complete their one year training as per Rules. Rather first examination was conducted - H when they have only completed 9 months training. 689 NARINDERSINGHv. STATEOFHARYANA[PASAYAT,J.] - (iii) That even sufficient time was not granted to the petitioners when A 2nd time examination was conducted. - (iv) That earlier also many chances have been given to pass the examination. Even opportunity was granted to pass the training fresh to many candidates. - (v) That to discharge the petitioners only after granting two B opportunities is on the face of it arbitrary and illegal. - (vi) That the course was very lengthy and there was no proper instructors to teach the law subjects and even the examinations were conducted without completing the full, one year training." c The writ petition was dismissed so far as the present appellants are concerned at the admission stage. No notice had been issued and no counter affidavit had been filed. The stand of learned counsel for the State is that various stands highlighted by the appellant in the writ petition are clearly unsustainable in law. D A bare reading of the High Court's order shows that it did not consider the various stands of the appellants. It also did not mention that no other point except that relating to Rule 3.8 of the Manual was pressed into service. Had it been so, the grievance of the appellants would have been without any basis. But the High Court did not even refer to the various stands taken by E the appellants. It was open to the High Court to discard the plea but to restrict consideration to one point and not to others was certainly not a permissible course. It may be, as contended by learned counsel for the State, that different pleas as raised are without any substance. But that should have been clearly indicated in the impugned order. That having not done so, we set aside the order of the High Court and remand the case to it for a fresh disposal in F accordance with law. Since the counter affidavit has not been ~led by the respondents before the High Court, let them do so within a period of four weeks. Since the matter is of some urgency the High Court is requested to decide the writ application as early as possible preferably by the end of December, 2006. We make it clear that we have not expressed any opinion so G far as acceptability or otherwise of the stands taken by the writ petitioner nos. I and 2 and/or the acceptability of various stands as noted above taken by present appellants. The appeals are allowed. There will be no order as to costs. Appeals allowed.[H ] D.G.