# A. SANJEEVI NAIDU ETC. ETC v. STATE OF MADRAS AND ANR

- **Citation:** [1970] 3 S.C.R. 505
- **Court:** Supreme Court of India
- **Decided:** 1970-02-05
- **Case number:** Writ petitions Nos. 846 of 1968
- **Source:** https://unisonlegal.in/judgment/supreme-court-of-india/a-sanjeevi-naidu-etc-etc-v-state-of-madras-and-anr-5056
- **Pages:** 10

## Headnote

sn 5
A
A. SANJEEVI NAIDU ETC. ETC.
v.
STATE OF MADRAS AND ANR.
February 5, 1970
B
[M. HIDAYATULLAH, C.J., J, C. SHAH, K. S. HEGDE,A. N. GROVER,
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A. N. RAY AND I. D. DUA, JJ.)
Motor Vehicles Act 4 of 1939, s. 68(c)-Validit~ of schen1e fra1ned
upon for11u1tion of requisite opinion hy Secretary and not Minisfr'r. Rule
23-A authoriJi11g
Secretary-Vulidity
of- -Constitution
af India, Art.
166(3 )-Scope of.
A draft scheme for the nationalisation of certain transport routes was
prepared and published by the respondent State Government under Section 68(() of the Motor Vehicles Act 4 o[ 1939.
The validity of
the
~chcmc was challcn¥ed hy the appellants. who \Vere private stage carriage
operators, in a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution but the petition \Vas dismissed hy the High Court.
In appeal to this Court the validity of the scheme was mainly challenged on the ground that the opinion requisite under Section 68(C) \\·as not
formed by the State Government but by the Secretary to the Go\·ernment
acting pursuant to powers
conferred on him under Rule .23-A 0f
the
Madras Government Businc-ss Rule.
It was further contended that
the
~aid rule was ultra vires the provisions of the Constitution: Parlian1ent has
conferred power!'! under Section 68-C to a designated authori:y and that
power can be exercised only by the authority specified and no one else.
'fhe authority concerned in the present case was the State Government
and it coul<l not have delegated i's statutory 'functions to any one else.
By Government \Vas meant the Governor aided and advised by his ~iinis
ters.
The requisite opinion should therefore
have been formed hy the
Minister to \\'horn the husincs-; had heen allocated unde·r the Rules.
HELD : The function.; under the Motor Vehicles Act had been allocatC'd by the Governor to the Transport Minister under the Rules and
the
Secretary of that Ministry had been v;:•lidly authorised under Rule .23-A
lo take action under s. 68(C) of the Act.
In the very nature of things, neither the Council of Minh.ters nor an
individual Minister can attend to the numerous matters that come up before the Government.
Those matters have to be attended to and decisions taken by various officials at various levels.
When those officials discharge the functions allotted to them. they are doing so as limbs
o'f
the Government and not as persons to whom the power of the Government had been delegated. [513 G]
·Under our Cons!itution. the Governor is
essentially a constitutional
head; the administration of the State is run by the Council of Ministers.
In order to ohviate the difficulty that would arise if the Council of ~inisters
had to deal with everv ma'.ter, the Constitution has authorised the Governor under sub-article ·(3) of the Article 166 to make rules for th'! more
convenient transaction di the business of the Govenment .of the State and
for the allocation amongst its Ministers of the business of Government.
All matter-; excepting those in which the Governor is required to act in
his discretion have to he allocated to one or the other of the Ministers 'on
506
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1970] 3 s.c.R.
the advice cf the Chief Minister. Apart from allocating business among
the Minister", the Governor can also make rules on the advice of his Council of Ministers for more convenient transaction of business. He can not
only allocate the various subjects amongst the Ministers but may $0 further
and on the advice of his Ministe·rs, designate a particular official to discharge any particular function. [5 l l FJ
The cab.inet is responsible to the 'Legislature for every action taken in
any O[ the Ministries.
This is the essence of joint responsibility,
That
does not nu:an that each and every decision must be taken by the cabinet.
T~e political responsibility of the Council of Ministers does not and cannot
predicate th•:: personal responsibility of the Ministers to discharge all or any
of the functions of the Government.
Similarly an individual M

## Text

sn 5
A
A. SANJEEVI NAIDU ETC. ETC.
v.
STATE OF MADRAS AND ANR.
February 5, 1970
B
[M. HIDAYATULLAH, C.J., J, C. SHAH, K. S. HEGDE,A. N. GROVER,
c
D
E
F
G
H
A. N. RAY AND I. D. DUA, JJ.)
Motor Vehicles Act 4 of 1939, s. 68(c)-Validit~ of schen1e fra1ned
upon for11u1tion of requisite opinion hy Secretary and not Minisfr'r. Rule
23-A authoriJi11g
Secretary-Vulidity
of- -Constitution
af India, Art.
166(3 )-Scope of.
A draft scheme for the nationalisation of certain transport routes was
prepared and published by the respondent State Government under Section 68(() of the Motor Vehicles Act 4 o[ 1939.
The validity of
the
~chcmc was challcn¥ed hy the appellants. who \Vere private stage carriage
operators, in a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution but the petition \Vas dismissed hy the High Court.
In appeal to this Court the validity of the scheme was mainly challenged on the ground that the opinion requisite under Section 68(C) \\·as not
formed by the State Government but by the Secretary to the Go\·ernment
acting pursuant to powers
conferred on him under Rule .23-A 0f
the
Madras Government Businc-ss Rule.
It was further contended that
the
~aid rule was ultra vires the provisions of the Constitution: Parlian1ent has
conferred power!'! under Section 68-C to a designated authori:y and that
power can be exercised only by the authority specified and no one else.
'fhe authority concerned in the present case was the State Government
and it coul<l not have delegated i's statutory 'functions to any one else.
By Government \Vas meant the Governor aided and advised by his ~iinis
ters.
The requisite opinion should therefore
have been formed hy the
Minister to \\'horn the husincs-; had heen allocated unde·r the Rules.
HELD : The function.; under the Motor Vehicles Act had been allocatC'd by the Governor to the Transport Minister under the Rules and
the
Secretary of that Ministry had been v;:•lidly authorised under Rule .23-A
lo take action under s. 68(C) of the Act.
In the very nature of things, neither the Council of Minh.ters nor an
individual Minister can attend to the numerous matters that come up before the Government.
Those matters have to be attended to and decisions taken by various officials at various levels.
When those officials discharge the functions allotted to them. they are doing so as limbs
o'f
the Government and not as persons to whom the power of the Government had been delegated. [513 G]
·Under our Cons!itution. the Governor is
essentially a constitutional
head; the administration of the State is run by the Council of Ministers.
In order to ohviate the difficulty that would arise if the Council of ~inisters
had to deal with everv ma'.ter, the Constitution has authorised the Governor under sub-article ·(3) of the Article 166 to make rules for th'! more
convenient transaction di the business of the Govenment .of the State and
for the allocation amongst its Ministers of the business of Government.
All matter-; excepting those in which the Governor is required to act in
his discretion have to he allocated to one or the other of the Ministers 'on
506
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1970] 3 s.c.R.
the advice cf the Chief Minister. Apart from allocating business among
the Minister", the Governor can also make rules on the advice of his Council of Ministers for more convenient transaction of business. He can not
only allocate the various subjects amongst the Ministers but may $0 further
and on the advice of his Ministe·rs, designate a particular official to discharge any particular function. [5 l l FJ
The cab.inet is responsible to the 'Legislature for every action taken in
any O[ the Ministries.
This is the essence of joint responsibility,
That
does not nu:an that each and every decision must be taken by the cabinet.
T~e political responsibility of the Council of Ministers does not and cannot
predicate th•:: personal responsibility of the Ministers to discharge all or any
of the functions of the Government.
Similarly an individual Minister is
responsible to the Legislature for every action taken or omitted to be taken
in his rnini~;try.
This again is a political responsibility and not personal
rcsponsihility. In every well-planned administration. most of the decisions
are taken by the civil servants who are likely to be experts and not subject to polilical prc~surc. The Minister is not expected to hurden himself
with the J.ay-to-Jay 1.1dministration.
His prin1ary function is to Jay down
the policies and programmes of his ministry while the Council of Ministers
settle th~ rnajor prtlicics and programmes of the Government. [512 A]
E1npc·ror v. Sih1u11!1 Banerjee & Ors. L.R. 72 I.A. p. 241; Kalyan
Sinnli v. Swte of U.P. [1962] Supp. 2 S.C.R. 76; lshwarlal Girdhar·
/al Josfii ,., State of Gujarat and anr .. I 1968] 2 S.C.R. 266; Ca11ital Multipflrpose ('c1opc•rarire Snciety v. Stntt• of Madhya Pradesh and Ors. Civil
Appeal N,1. 220111966 decided on 30-3-1967; referred to.
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeals Nos. 397,
400 to 402, 404 to 417. 422 to 441, 451, 1158 to 1161, 1176,
1178 lo 1181, 1204, 1207 and 1407 of 1969.
App,~als from the judgments and orders dated January 6, 1969
O·'. the Mr.dras High Court in Writ petitions Nos. 846 of 1968 etc.
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K. K. Veuugopa/, K. R. Nambiar and A. S. Nambiar, for the
appellants (in C.As. Nos. 397. 400 to 402, 422, 423, 441and451
of 1969 i.
F
M. C. Chagla, V. Subraman:am, V. T. Gopalan, Radharani,
C. S. Prakasa Rao and K. Jayaram, for the appellants (in C.As.
Nos. 404 to 417. 1179, 1180 of 1407 o~ 1969).
M. K. Ramamurthi, Shyilma/a Pappu and Vineet Kumar, for
the appellant (in C.A. No. 1176 of 1969).
G
R. V. S. Mani. for the appellants (in C.As. Nos. 424 to 428,
1158 to 1161and1207of1969).
A. K. Sen, C. A. Prakasa Rao and R. Gopalakrish11a11, for the
appellants (in C.As. Nos. 429, 431 to 438, 440, 441, 1178 and
1181of1969).
H
C. S. Prakasa Rao, A. R. Ramanathan and R. Gopa/akrishnan,
. for the appellant (in C.A. No. 430 of 1969).
•
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A. SANJEEVI NAIDU v. MADRAS (Hegde, !.)
507
C. S. Prnkasa Rao, R. Gopalakrishna11 and Sudhir Khanna, for·
the appellant (in C.A. No. 439 of 1969).
C. S. PN1kasa Rao, K. K. Venugopa/ and R. Gopalakrishnan,.
for the appellant (in C.A. No. 1204 of 1969).
Niren De, Attorney General for India and A. V. Rangam, for
the respondents (in C.A. No. 397 of 1969).
S. V. Gupte and A. V. Rangam, for the respondents (in C.A.
No. 400 of 1969).
A. V. Rangam, for the respondents '(in C.A. Nos.
401,.
c
402. 404 to 417, 422 to 441, 451, 1158 to 1161, 1176, 1178 to
1181, 1204, 1207 and 1407 of 1969).
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The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
Hegde, J.
These 52 appellants are private
stage carriage
operators in the State of Tamil Nadu.
They have been operating
in various routes in that ,State.
Some of those routes are pro_posed
to be nationalised.
A draft scheme of nationalisation has. been
prepared and published under s. 68(C) of the Motor Vehicles Act
(Central Act IV of 1939) (to be hereinafter referred to as 'the
Act').
The validity of the draft scheme was challenged by the
appellants before the High Court of Madras under Art. 226 of the
Constitution.
Incidentally the validity of some of the provisions
of the ·amendin~ Act XVIII of 1968 (Madras Act) also came to
be challen:;ed in thme petitions.
A division bench of the Madras
High Court consistinJ! of Anantanarayanan C.J. and Natesan J.
have dismi'ised those petitions.
As against the decision cf the
High Court these appeals have been brought on the strength of
the :ertificates issued by the High Court.
In these appeals we are primarily concerned with the validity
of the draft scheme under challenge. The ground on which it is
challenged is that the opinion requisite under s. 68(Cl of the Act
was not formed by the State Government but by the Secretary to
the government in the Industrie', Labour and Housing Department.
acting in pursuance of the powers conferred on him under rule
23(A) of the Madras Government Business Rules (to be here
inafter referred to as 'the Rules').
The contention of the appellants is that the said rule is ultra vires the provisions d the Constitution.
There is no dispute that if the rule in question is valid.
the challenge directed against the draft scheme must fail.
The
High Court has opined that that rule is a valid rule. It is the
correctness of that conclusion that is primarily in issue in these
appeals.
.508
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
(1970] 3 S.C.R .
Section 68 ( C) prescribes :
"Where any State transport undertaking is of opinion
that for the purp:ise of providing an efficient, adequate,
economical and properly co-ordinated road transport
service, it is necessary in the public interest that road
transport services in general or any particular class of
such service in relation to any area or route or portion
thereof should be run and operated by the State transport
undertaking, whether to the exclusion, complete or partial of other persons or otherwise, the State transport
undertaking may prepare a scheme giv~ng particulars of
the nature o~ the services proposed to be rendered, the
area or route proposed to be covered and such other
particulars respecting thereto as may be prescribed, and
shall cause every such scheme to be published in the
Official Gazette and also in such other manner as the
State Government may direct."
This section requires that the State transport undertaking must
form the opinion contemplated therein.
In the State of Tamil
Nadu, the Stale transport undertaking is a .department of the State
gove!·nment.
Therefore the necessary opinion should have been
formed by the State government.
It was urged on behalf of the
· appellants that under our constitutional set up, the requisite opininn
could have been formed either by the Council of Ministers or the
Minister to whom the business in question had been allocated
under the 'Rules'.
The s·ame could not have been formed by the
Secretary ""ho is merely an official and that too by the Secretary
who is not the head of the department to which the ,functions under
the Act had been assigned.
The contentions advanced on behalf
of the appellants proceed thus : The executive power of the State
vests in the Governor (Art. 154). In the exercise of that power
he has to be aided and advised by the Council of Ministers with
the Chief Minister at the head (Art. 163 ( 1)) but the Governor
can make rules for more convenient transaction of the.business of
the government of the State arid for the allocation among Ministers
of the said business in so far as it is not business with respect to
which the Governor is by or under the Constitution required to
act in his discretion, (Art. 166(3) ).
A Minister can only deal
with the business that has been allocated to him by the Governor
under 'the Rules'.
He is not competent to deal with ·any other
bustness.
Motor Vehicles Act has been allocated to the Home
Department.
Mr. Karunanidhi, the Transport Minister was not
in-charge of the Home Department.
Therefore his department
could not have dealt with ful)ctions arising under the Act. Further
the Governor could 1not have allocated any business to a Secretary.
Hence in making rule 23 (A). the Governor exceeded the powers
conferred on him under Art. 166(3).
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A. SANJEEVI NAIDU v. MADRAS (Hegde, I.)
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On the other hand, it was urged on behalf of the State c.f Tamil
Nadu that originally the functions under the Motor Vehicles Act
had been allocated to the Home Department but when Mr. Annadurai formed the D.M.K. government in Tamil Nadu in 1967, the
Home Department as such was not allocated to any Minister. The
various subjects included in that department were split up and
distributed amongst the various Ministers.
Transport was allocated to Mr. Karunanidhi.
Motor Vehicles Act as such was not
allocated to any Minister.
The department of Transport included
functions under the Motor Vehicles Act as well.
Ever since the
D.M.K. ministry was formed, the functions under the Motor Vehicles Act were dealt with by the Transport ministry. At the instance
of the Transport Minister, Mr. Karunanidhi,
Governor framed
rule 23(A) for the more convenient discharge cf the business.
On behalf of the government, it was further urged that Art. 166 ( 3 I
has two parts namely ( 1) rules for the more convenient transaction of the business of the government of the State and (2) rules
relating to allocation of business of the State among the Ministers.
It was said that after allocating the business oi the government
among various Ministers, it was open to the Governor on the
advice of the ministry to make rules for the convenient discharge
of the business allocated.
Rule 23(A) is one such rule made
under Art. !66(3 ).
Hence its validity is not open to question.
The impugned rule 23 (A) was introduced for the first time
l?y G.O.Ms. No. 2715 Public dated 22-12-67.
Under sub-cl. (I)
of that rule, it is provided that powers and functions which State
transport undertaking may exercise under s. 68(C) of the Act
shall be exercised and discharged on behalf of the State government by the Secretary to the Government of Madras in the Industries, Labour and Housing Department.
The rule .further provides
that cases relating to such powers and functions of the State transport undertaking under s. 68(C) need not be submitted to the
Minister in-charge.
Under sub-cl. (2) of that rule, the power'
and functions of the State government under s. 68 (D) of the Act
and the rules relating thereto are directed to be exercised and
discharged by the Secretary to the government in the Home Department.
Rule 4 of 'the Rules' deals with __ allocation and disposal of business.
It provides that the business of the Government shall be
transacteci in the department' specified in the 1st Sch. and classified
and distributed between those departments as laid down therein.
Rule 5 says that Governor shall, on the advice of the Chief Minister
allot the business of the government among the Ministers, assigning
one or more departments to the charge of a Minister but the proviso
to that rule says that nothing in that rule shall prevent the assigning of one department to the charge of more than one Minister.
510
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1970] 3 S.C.R.
:Rule 6 pn:scribes that each department of the secretariat shall be
.under a Secretary who shall be the official head of the department.
Under rul1~ 7, the Council of Ministers constituted under Art.
163 ( 1) is held collectively responsible for all the executive orders
issued in the name of the Governor in accordance with rules, whether such orders are authorised, by an individual Minister on a
matter pertaining to his portfolio or as a result of the discussion
at the meeting of the Council of Ministers.
Rule 9 provides that
without prejudice to the provisions of rule 7, the Minister in-charge
of a department shall be primarily responsible for the disposal of
the business pertaining to his department.
Section III of the
"Rules" containing rules 21 to 30 deal with the departmental disposal of business.
Rule 21 says that except as otherwise provided
by any other rule cases shall ordinarily be disposed of by or under
the authority of the Minister in-charge who may by means of
standing orders give such directions as he may think fit for the
disposal of cases in the department; copies of such standing orders
shall be sent to the Governor and the Chief Minister.
Rule 22
provides that each Minister shall by means of standing orders
arrange with the secretary of the department what matters or class
ef matters are to be brought to his personal notice; copies of such
standing orders has to be sent to the Governor and the Chief
Minister.
Rule 23 prescribes that except as otherwise provided
in the rules, all cases shall be submitted to the Minister in-charge
by the secretary of the department to which they belong.
Then
comes rule 23(A) to which reference has already been made.
The first question that has to be decided is whether the functions nnder the Motor Vehicles Act had been assigned to Mr.
Karunanidhi, the Minister for Transport.
It is true that when the
various d1ipartments were reorganized in 1961, Motor Vehicles
Act as we![ as Transport were included in the Home Department.
But when the D.M.K. ministry came to power after the 1967
general elections, the Home Department as such was not allocated
to any Minister.
The various subjects included in that department
were distributed amongst several Ministers.
Transport was allocated to the Transport Minister.
Motor Vehicles Act as such was
not allocated to any Minister.
The allocation of business among,
the various Minister; appears to have been made under broad
heads.
In 1961 while allocating subjects to the various depa•·tments there was a detailed and exhaustive enumeration of
the
subjects.
But that method was not adopted in 1967 while distributing the business of the government among the various Ministers .
. The functions under the Act undoubtedly relate to Transport
department.
It cannot be assumed that functions under the Act
had not been assigned to any Minister.
It is proved that those
functions were being discharged by the Minister for Transport.
Hence we agree with the High Court that those functions had been·
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A. SANJEEVI NAIDU "· MADRAS (Hegde. J.)
511
allocated to the Transport Minister and that the State transport
undertaking was being run by the Transport ministry.
Mr. Karunanidhi has' in his affidavit filed before the High Court
sworn to the fact that rule 23(A) was framed at his instance.
Admittedly he could have assigned the functions under s. 68(C)
of the Act to the Transport Secretary by making a standing order
under rule 22. If he could have done that, we fail to see why he
could not advise the Governor through the Chief Minister to make
rule 23(A).
It was urged on behalf of the appellants that the parliament
has conferred powers under s. 68 ( C) of the Act to a designated
authority.
That power can be exercised only by that authority
and by no one else. The authority concerned in the present case
is the State government.
The government- could not have delegated its statutory functions to any one else.
The government
means the Governor aided and advised by his Ministers. Therefcre
the required opinion should have been formed by the Minister to
whom the business had been allocated by 'the Rules'.
It was
further urged that if the functions of the Government can be discharged by any one else, then the doctrine of ministerial responsibility which is the very essence of the cabinet form of government
disappears; such
a situation
is
impermissible
under
our
Constitution.
We think that the above submissions advanced on behalf of the
appellants are without force and are based on a misconception of
the principles underlying our Constitution.
Under our Constitution, the Governor is essentially a constitutional he<1d; the administration of State is run by the Council of Ministers.
But in the very
nature of things, it is impossible for the Council of Ministers to
deal with each and every matter that comes before the Government.
In order to obviate that difficulty the Constitution has authorised
the Governor under sub-Art. ( 3) of. Art. 166 to make rules for
the more convenient transaction of business of the government of
the State and for the allocation amongst its Ministers, the business
of the gove•nment.
All matters excepting those in which Governor
is required to act in his discretion have to be allocated to one or
the other of the Ministers on the advice of the Chief Minister.
A part from allocating business among the Ministers, the Governor
can also make rules on the advice of his Council of Ministers for
mo•e convenient transaction of business.
He can. not only allocate the various subjects amongst the Ministers but may go further
and designate a particular official to discharge any particular
funct~n. But this again he can do only on the advice of the
Council of Ministers.
512
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1970] 3 S.C.R.
The cabinet is responsible to the legislature for every action
taken in any of the ministries.
That is the essence of joint responsibility.
That does not mean that each and every decision must
be taken by the cabinet.
The political responsibility of the Council of Ministers does not and cannot predicate the personal responsibility of the Ministers to discharge all or any of the governmental
functions.
Similarly an individual Minister is responsible to the
legislature for every action taken or omitted to be taken in his
ministry.
This again is a political responsibility and not personal
responsibility.
Even the most hard working minister cannot attend
to e\·ery business in his department. If he attempts to do it, he
is bound to make a mess of his department.
In every well planned
administration, most of the decisions are taken by the civil servants
who are likely to be experts and not subject to political pressure.
The Minister is not expected to burden himself with the day to day
administration.
His primary function is to lay down the policies
and programme:; of his ministry while the Council of Ministers
settle the major policies and programmes of the government. When
a civil servant takes a decision, he does not do it as a delegate of
his Minister.
He does it on behalf of the government.
It is
always open to a Minister to call for any file in his ministry and
p.tss orders.
He may also issue directions to the officers in his
ministry regarding the disposal o.f government business generally
or as regards any specific case.
Subject to that over all power.
the officers designated by the 'Rules' or the standing orders, can
take decisions on behalf of the government.
These officers are the
limbs of the government and not its delegates.
In Emperor v. Sibnath Banerji and ors.(') construing s. 59(3)
of the Government of I,ndia Act, 1935, a provision similar to Art.
166(3), the Judicial Committee held that it was within the competence of the Governor to empower a civil servant to
transact
any particular business of the government by making appropriate
rules.
In that case their Lordships further observed that the
Ministers like civil servants are subordinates to the Governor. In
Ka/yan Singh v. State of U.P: (') .: this Court repelling the contention that the opinion formed by an official of the government does
not fulfil the requirements of s. 68 ( C) observed :
"The opinion must necessarily be formed by somebody to whom, under the rules of business, the cqnduct
of the business is entrusted and that opinion, in law.
will be the opinion of the State Government. It is stated
in the counter-affidavit that all the concerned officials
in the Department of Transport considered the draft
scheme and the said scheme was finally approved by
the Secretary of the Transport Department before the
(I l L. R. 72 I. A.
p. 241.
(2) [1962] Supp. (2) S. C.R. p. 76.
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A. SANJEEVI NAIDU v. MADRAS (Hegde, J.)
51 3
notification was issued. It is not denied that the ~ecre
tary of the said Department has power under the rules
of business to act for the State Government in that
behaM'.
We, therefore, hold that in the present case the
opinion was formed by the State transport undertaking
within the meaning of s. 68 ( C) of the Act, and that,
there was nothing illegal in the manner of initiation of
the said Scheme".
In lshwarlal Girdharlal Joshi etc.
v.
State of Gujarat and
anr. ( ') this Court rejected the contention that the opinion formed
by the Deputy Secretary under 1s. 17 ( 1) of the !;and Acquisition
Act cannot be considered as the opinion of the State government.
After referring to the rules of business regulating the government
business, this Court observed at p. 282 :
"In our case the Secretaries concerned were given
the jurisdiction to take action on behalf of Government
and satisfy themselves about the •.need for acquisition
under s. 6, the urgency of the matter and the existence
of waste and arable lands for the application of sub-ss.
( L) and ( 4) of s. 17.
In view of the Rules of business
and the Instructions their determination became the
determination of Government and no exception could be
taken."
·
In Capital Multi-purpose Co-operative Society
v.
State of
Madhya Pradesh and Ors. (1 ), this Court dealing with the scope of
s. 68 (D) of the Act observed that the Srate Government obviously
is not a natural person and therefore some natural person has to
give hearing on behalf of the State Government and hence the
hearing given by the special secretary pursuant to the power conferred on him by the business rules framed under Art. 166 ( 3) is
a valid hearing.
As mentioned earlier in the very nature of th\ngs, neither the
Council of Ministers nor an individual Minister can attend to the
numerous matters that come up before the Government.
Those
matters have to be attended to a;nd decisions taken by various
officials at various levels. When those officials discharge the functions allotted to them, they are doing so as limbs of the government and not as persons to whom the power of the government
had been delegated.
In Halsbury Laws of England Vol. I 3rd
Edn. at p. 170, it is observed :
"Where functions entrusted to a Minister are performed by an official employed in the Minister's department
(1) !1968] 2, S. C.R. p. 266.
(2) C. A. 2201 -0f1966 decided on :lll.3.1967.
L8Supcl/70-J
514
SUPREME .COURT REPORTS
(1970] 3 s.c.R.
there. is in Jaw no delegation because constitutionally
the act or decision of the official is that of the Minister."
Similar view has been expressed iin "Principles of Administrative Law" by Griffith and Street. That is also the view taken by
Sir Ivor Jennings in his "Cabinet Government",
For the reasons mentioned above, we arc: of opinion that the
iunctlons under the Motor Vehicles Act had been allocated by the
Governor to the 'Transport Minister under "the Rules" and the
Secretary of that ministry had been validly authorised under rule
23-A to take action under s. 68 (C) of the Act.
·
A
B
The validity of some of the provisions of Madras Act 18 of c
1968 which amended the Act was canvassed before us.
It is not
necessary to go into those questions for deciding the validity· of
the impugned sdwme.
Those questions can be more appropriately
gone into and decided if ·and when action is taken on the strength
of those provisions.
Hence we leave open those questiQlls.
In the result these appeals fail and they are dismissed with
D
costs-hearing fee one set.
R.K.P.S.
Appeals dismissed,
I