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Chandro Devi & Etc. v. Union of India & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2017 INSC 875Decided 8 Sept 2017
Civil Appeal Nos. 11360-11361 of 2017
Justice Madan B. Lokur · Justice Deepak Gupta

Background

The appellants were family members of deceased or injured army personnel who had been allotted shops on short-term, renewable licences in defence colonies in Delhi. A 2007 policy capped such licences at a maximum of 5 years, after which the appellant's licence was not renewed, and her challenge to this (and an earlier review petition) was dismissed by the Delhi High Court. She argued before the Supreme Court that the earlier decisions had relied on a government letter wrongly treated as final guidelines when it was only a "draft" letter, and that this amounted to fraud on the court.

Decision Breakdown

The Court held that even accepting the letter was only a draft, this did not amount to fraud: fraud must be specifically pleaded and proved, not merely alleged for the first time before the Supreme Court. Examining the actual licence rules (the 2001 and 2007 Standard Operating Procedures), the Court found the Station Commander had full discretion over renewal and that capping licences at 5 years was a reasonable, non-arbitrary policy choice, not one the appellant had any vested right to resist. A connected appeal was also dismissed because the appellant in that appeal had already availed of court-granted time to vacate and could not now raise fresh grounds. Both appeals were accordingly dismissed.

Lesson Learnt

A bare allegation that evidence was mischaracterised or "improperly" relied upon is not the same as proving fraud: fraud vitiating a judgment must be specifically pleaded and established, not raised as an afterthought at the final appellate stage. Licensees of government/defence premises with no vested renewal right cannot resist a reasonable, non-discriminatory change in policy capping licence duration.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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