A single judge bench of the Karnataka High Court ruled that the State instrumentalities under Article 12 of the Constitution cannot act arbitrarily or unreasonably whilst considering the claim of citizens for the grant of State largesse and held that the retrospective effect does not apply to procedural change.
The petitioner, H. Gayathri belongs to the ST category and she claimed for allotment of dealership of retail outlet on Besant Park Road at Doddaballapur by issuing an addendum to the Letter of Intent dated 30.06.2016 for incorporating alternate land, the one proposed earlier now not being available.
The land offered by the petitioner belonged to another person who did not agree to certain terms and therefore petitioner after having an arrangement with another lady had proposed the land to the said lady.
The respondent opposed the plea by stating that the petitioner could have approached the Grievance Redressal Cell availing in the official hierarchy and that the policy then in obtainment did not provide for consideration of applications of the kind in respect of lands other than the ones offered in the very application itself, although the new policy of 2018 would provide for that.
The Court recalled the words of Lord Denning: “The rule that an Act of Parliament is not to be given retrospective effect applies only to statutes which affect vested rights. It does not apply to statutes which only alter the form of procedure or the admissibility of evidence, or the effect which the courts give to evidence”
Justice Krishna S Dixit directed the Respondents to consider the petitioner’s application by law, within eight weeks. Ashok B Patil appeared for the petitioner and M N Kumar & N J Kumar appeared for the respondent.
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