{"id":154828,"date":"2008-11-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-11-16T18:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/sunitidevi-singhania-hospital-vs-union-of-india-anr-on-17-november-2008"},"modified":"2018-10-09T04:37:42","modified_gmt":"2018-10-08T23:07:42","slug":"sunitidevi-singhania-hospital-vs-union-of-india-anr-on-17-november-2008","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/sunitidevi-singhania-hospital-vs-union-of-india-anr-on-17-november-2008","title":{"rendered":"Sunitidevi Singhania Hospital &#8230; vs Union Of India &amp; Anr on 17 November, 2008"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"docsource_main\">Supreme Court of India<\/div>\n<div class=\"doc_title\">Sunitidevi Singhania Hospital &#8230; vs Union Of India &amp; Anr on 17 November, 2008<\/div>\n<div class=\"doc_author\">Author: &#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;J.<\/div>\n<div class=\"doc_bench\">Bench: S.B. Sinha, Cyriac Joseph<\/div>\n<pre>                                                                          REPORTABLE\n         IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA\n                    CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION\n\n                         CIVIL APPEAL NO. 6704 OF 2008\n                       (Arising out of S.L.P. (C) No.10532\/2008)\n\n            Sunitadevi Singhania Hospital ...Appellant\n      Trust and Anr.\n\n                                         Versus\n\n            Union of India &amp; Anr.        ...Respondents\n\n                                   O R D E R\n<\/pre>\n<p>                      Leave granted.\n<\/p>\n<p>                      Appellants are before us being aggrieved by and dis-satisfied<\/p>\n<p>with an order dated 18.1.2008 passed by a Division Bench of the High Court of<\/p>\n<p>judicature at Bombay dismissing the writ petition filed by the appellants herein on the<\/p>\n<p>ground that it was not a fit case to exercise the Court&#8217;s extraordinary jurisdiction.<\/p>\n<p>                      The basic fact of the matter is not in dispute.\n<\/p>\n<p>                      Appellant No.1 which is a Charitable Tust runs a hospital on no<\/p>\n<p>profit basis. It imported certain equipments invoking the Notification 64\/88-Cus.<\/p>\n<p>dated 1.3.1988 issued by the Government of India in terms whereof exemption from<\/p>\n<p>payment of custom duty was granted in respect thereof subject to an obligation that it<\/p>\n<p>would reserve 10% of the beds for patients from families having a income of less than<\/p>\n<p>Rs.500\/- per month and provision for free treatment of at least 40% of the outdoor<\/p>\n<p>patients shall be made.\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"hidden_text\">                                           -1-<\/span><\/p>\n<p>                      An investigation was carried out in the year 1999 as to whether<\/p>\n<p>the appellant No.1 had fulfilled all such conditions or not. The matter went before the<\/p>\n<p>Customs Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal, West Regional Bench at<br \/>\nMumbai. The appeal of the appellant before the Tribunal was heard along with the<\/p>\n<p>cases of M\/s Miraj Medical Centre W. Hospital and M\/s Balabhai Nanavati Hospital.<\/p>\n<p>                      By reason of a judgment and order dated 19.1.2006, the<\/p>\n<p>Tribunal having held that the appellants before it had continuous obligation to fulfill<\/p>\n<p>the aforementioned conditions laid down under the said Notification dated 1.3.1988<\/p>\n<p>and having not complied therewith the redemption fine and penalty imposed upon it<\/p>\n<p>by the Customs Authorities were justified.\n<\/p>\n<p>                      Indisputably, appellant filed an application for rectification of<\/p>\n<p>mistake before the Tribunal in regard to the quantum of redemption fine and penalty.<\/p>\n<p>The said application was allowed.\n<\/p>\n<p>                      An appeal was preferred against the order of the Tribunal<\/p>\n<p>before this Court.\n<\/p>\n<p>                      It is stated before us by Shri S.Ganesh, learned senior counsel<\/p>\n<p>appearing on behalf of the appellants and we have no reason to disbelieve him that<\/p>\n<p>one of the contentions raised before this Court was that the Tribunal had not taken<\/p>\n<p>into consideration the fact involved in the matter and had the same been done it could<\/p>\n<p>have been<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"hidden_text\">                                          -2-<\/span><\/p>\n<p>established that the appellant had in fact fulfilled all its obligations in terms of the<\/p>\n<p>said Notification. Several other points were also said to have been urged before the<\/p>\n<p>Tribunal.\n<\/p>\n<p>                      This Court, presumably, on the premise that Judges&#8217; record is<\/p>\n<p>final and if an apparent error has been committed by the Tribunal in not taking into<\/p>\n<p>consideration the contentions raised before it by the appellants, permitted        it to<\/p>\n<p>withdraw the appeal with liberty to file an appropriate application before the<br \/>\nTribunal, stating:\n<\/p>\n<p>                     &#8221; Learned counsel states that several other points had been<br \/>\nargued before the Tribunal which have not been taken note of by it. Learned counsel<br \/>\nstates that an appropriate application shall be filed before the Tribunal and seeks<br \/>\npermission of the Court to withdraw the appeal. The appeal is dismissed as<br \/>\nwithdrawn accordingly.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>                      Pursuant thereto or in furtherance thereof the appellant No.1<\/p>\n<p>filed an application before the Tribunal purported to be an application for<\/p>\n<p>rectification of mistake wherein, inter alia, the following grounds were raised:<\/p>\n<p>                       &#8221; 8. While disposing of the appeals by a common order dated<br \/>\n19.1.2006, this Hon&#8217;ble Tribunal has only recorded the facts as applicable to one of the<br \/>\nappellants, namely, the Miraj Medical Centre and has failed to appreciate<br \/>\nthe difference in facts and circumstances in the applicants case, inter-alia, as regards<br \/>\nthe following:\n<\/p>\n<p>           (a) The applicants had actually reserved 10% of the hospital beds for poor<br \/>\nand indigent persons and had advertised on several occasions the facility of free<br \/>\ntreatment to such people without means;\n<\/p>\n<p>           (b) The applicants also satisfied the criteria for out patient treatment, both<br \/>\nby giving free treatment at the hospital&#8217;s OPD as also by organizing free treatment<br \/>\ncamps, and the free treatment camps have been judicially recognised as meeting the<br \/>\npurpose of the notification, by the Hon&#8217;ble Madras High Court in Apollo Hospital&#8217;s<br \/>\ncase, which was relied upon by the applicants in their memorandum of appeal;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"hidden_text\">                                           -3-<\/span><\/p>\n<p>          (c) The equipment and records were completely destroyed in the riots of<br \/>\n2001, which were beyond the applicants&#8217; control;\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>          (d) In any event, the applicants being a hospital run by a charitable trust,<br \/>\non a no profit basis, the applicants were eligible for the exemption under Notification<br \/>\nNo.64\/88-Cus. under Entries 1 &amp; 3 alternatively.\n<\/p>\n<p>           9. The factual position being distinct and different from the main matter<br \/>\nheard by this Hon&#8217;ble Tribunal, the Hon&#8217;ble Tribunal ought to have appreciated the<br \/>\ndifference in the facts and ordered accordingly. The non-appreciation and\/ or<br \/>\nimproper appreciation of facts has resulted in an error apparent on the face of the<br \/>\nrecord in the Order dated 19.1.2006.\n<\/p>\n<p>              10. The Hon&#8217;ble Tribunal has failed to appreciate that if the obligations<br \/>\nunder Entry 2 in the table annexed to Notification 64\/88 is a continuing obligation, the<br \/>\ncompliance with the obligation will also be in the nature of a continuing compliance<br \/>\ni.e. it will have to be measured over the entire useful life of the equipment and not at<br \/>\nany periodic rests. In the applicants&#8217; case, from the date of the import of the<br \/>\nequipment until the destruction of the said equipment in the riots as aforesaid, the<br \/>\napplicants have satisfied both the in-patient reservation criterion and the out patient<br \/>\nfree treatment criterion. There was, therefore, no breach of the continuing obligation<br \/>\nby the applicants.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>                      We have been informed at the Bar that the Registry of Central<\/p>\n<p>Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal does not entertain an application of this<\/p>\n<p>nature and, thus, the same was necessarily required to be labelled as application for<\/p>\n<p>rectification of mistake,although, in view of Prayer (a) made therein it was for all<\/p>\n<p>intent and purport an application for review and\/or recall of the order passed by the<\/p>\n<p>Tribunal.\n<\/p>\n<p>                      The Tribunal by an order dated 12.10.2007 dismissed the said<\/p>\n<p>application holding that the same was<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"hidden_text\">                                           -4-<\/span><\/p>\n<p>barred by limitation on the premise that the Tribunal&#8217;s final order was passed on<\/p>\n<p>19.1.2006 and the application for<\/p>\n<p>rectification of mistake should have been filed within six<\/p>\n<p>months from the said date. It was, furthermore, opined that<\/p>\n<p>the Tribunal had no power to condone the delay by reason of the impugned judgment.<\/p>\n<p>As noticed hereinbefore, the High Court refused to interfere therewith.<\/p>\n<p>            Mr. S. Ganesh, learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the<\/p>\n<p>appellants would contend that having regard to the peculiar facts and circumstances<\/p>\n<p>obtaining in the instant case, the Tribunal must be considered to have acted illegally<\/p>\n<p>and without jurisdiction in so far as it failed to take into consideration that all<\/p>\n<p>Tribunals had inherent power to recall their order.<\/p>\n<p>            Mr. Abhichandani, learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the<br \/>\nrespondents, on the other hand, supported the impugned judgment.<\/p>\n<p>           Indisputably, the Tribunal considered the appeals preferred by the<\/p>\n<p>appellants along with the appeals preferred by two others. It has been contended<\/p>\n<p>before us that Dr. Balabhai Nanavati Hospital had filed Customs Appeal Nos. 61 and<\/p>\n<p>62 of 2006 thereagainst before the High Court which had been allowed by an order<\/p>\n<p>dated 11.1.2007.\n<\/p>\n<p>           From the Tribunal which is the final Court of fact, an assessee is entitled<\/p>\n<p>to obtain a judgment wherein all its contentions have been considered. If what has<\/p>\n<p>been contended<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"hidden_text\">                                           -5-<\/span><\/p>\n<p>before us by the appellants, namely, it indeed had complied with all the conditions laid<\/p>\n<p>down in the Notification are correct and, thus, was not liable to pay any redemption<\/p>\n<p>fine or penalty, the Tribunal was bound to consider the said contention.<\/p>\n<p>           Apparently, learned Tribunal only considered the factual matrix involved<\/p>\n<p>in the case of M\/s Miraj Medical Centre W. Hospital and not the factual aspect of the<\/p>\n<p>matter involving factual matrix. Appellants&#8217; case had purported to have been<\/p>\n<p>determined on the question of law without taking into consideration the question<\/p>\n<p>whether the law so laid down by the Tribunal is applicable to the fact of the<\/p>\n<p>appellants&#8217; case or not.\n<\/p>\n<p>           It is true that the period of limitation specified in terms of Sub-Section (2)<\/p>\n<p>of Section 129(B) of the Customs Act is required to be observed but the Tribunal<\/p>\n<p>failed to notice that it has inherent power of recalling its own order if sufficient cause<\/p>\n<p>is shown therefor. The principles of natural justice, which in a case of this nature, in<\/p>\n<p>our opinion, envisage that a mistake committed by the Tribunal in not noticing the<\/p>\n<p>facts involved in the appeal which would attract the ancillary and\/or incidental power<br \/>\nof the Tribunal necessary to discharge its functions effectively for the purpose of<\/p>\n<p>doing justice between the parties, were required to be complied with.<\/p>\n<p>           While the judges&#8217; records are considered to be final, it is now a trite law<\/p>\n<p>that when certain questions are raised<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"hidden_text\">                                           -6-<\/span><\/p>\n<p>before the Court of law or Tribunal but not considered by it, and when it is brought<\/p>\n<p>to its notice, it is the only appropriate authority to consider the question as to whether<\/p>\n<p>the said contentions are correct or not.\n<\/p>\n<p>           For the aforementioned purpose the provisions of limitation specified in<\/p>\n<p>Sub-section (2) of Section 129 B of<\/p>\n<p>the Customs Act would not be attracted. We, however, do not mean to lay down a law<\/p>\n<p>that such an application can be filed at any time. If such an application is filed within<\/p>\n<p>a reasonable time and if the Court or Tribunal finds that the contention raised before<\/p>\n<p>it by the applicant is prima-facie correct, in order to do justice, which is being above<\/p>\n<p>law, nothing fetters the judges hands from considering the matter on merit.<\/p>\n<p>           We may notice that this Court in         Grindlays Bank Ltd. Vs. Central<\/p>\n<p>Government Industrial Tribunal and Ors. &#8211; 1980(Suppl) SCC 420, held that<\/p>\n<p>Industrial Tribunal has an inherent power to set aside an ex-parte award subject of<\/p>\n<p>course to the condition that the same has not been published in the Gazette.<\/p>\n<p>           Grindlays Bank Ltd.[supra] has been followed by this Court in <a href=\"\/doc\/767290\/\">Sangham<\/p>\n<p>Tape Co. v. Hans Raj<\/a> [(2005)9 SCC 331], stating:\n<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>               &#8220;8.        The said decision is, therefore, an authority for<br \/>\n               the proposition that while an Industrial Court will have<br \/>\n               jurisdiction to set aside an ex parte award, but having<br \/>\n               regard to the provision contained in Section 17-A of the<br \/>\n               Act, an application<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"hidden_text\">                                             -7-<\/span><br \/>\n               therefor must be filed before the expiry of 30 days from the<br \/>\n               publication thereof.      Till then the Tribunal retains<br \/>\n               jurisdiction over the dispute referred to<br \/>\n               it for adjudication, and only up to that date, it has the<br \/>\n               power to entertain an application in connection with such<br \/>\n               dispute.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p>               9.         It is not in dispute that in the instant case, the<br \/>\n               High Court found as of fact that the application for setting<br \/>\n               aside the award was filed before the Labour Court after one<br \/>\n               month of the publication of the award.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p>               10.        In view of this Court&#8217;s decision in Grindlays<br \/>\n               Bank such jurisdiction could be exercised by the Labour<br \/>\n               Court within a limited time frame, namely, within thirty<br \/>\n               days from the date of publication of the award. Once an<br \/>\n               award becomes enforceable in terms of Section 17-A of the<br \/>\n               Act, the Labour Court or the Tribunal, as the case may be,<br \/>\n               does not retain any jurisdiction in relation to setting aside of<br \/>\n               an award passed by it. In other words, upon the expiry of<br \/>\n               30 days from the date of publication of the award in the<br \/>\n               gazette, the same having become enforceable, the Labour<br \/>\n               Court would become functus officio&#8221;.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>           Yet again in <a href=\"\/doc\/1473670\/\">Rabindra Singh v. Financial Commissioner, Cooperation,<\/p>\n<p>Punjab &amp; Ors.<\/a> [2008(8)SCALE 242], this Court held:\n<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>              &#8220;17.        What matters for exercise of jurisdiction is the<br \/>\n              source of power and not the failure to mention the correct<br \/>\n              provisions of law. Even in the absence of any express<br \/>\n              provision having regard to the principles of natural justice in<br \/>\n              such a proceeding, the courts will have ample jurisdiction to<br \/>\n              set aside an ex parte decree, subject of course to the statutory<br \/>\n              interdict.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span class=\"hidden_text\">                                             -8-<\/span><\/p>\n<p>           This Court, however, in a slightly different context in <a href=\"\/doc\/1783995\/\">Jet Ply Wood (P)<\/p>\n<p>Ltd. and Anr. vs. Madhukar Nowlakha &amp; Ors<\/a> [(2006) 3 SCC 699] opined that even<\/p>\n<p>an order<\/p>\n<p>permitting withdrawal of a suit can be allowed to be recalled by a civil court in<\/p>\n<p>exercise of its inherent power.\n<\/p>\n<p>           It is only from that point of view this Court passed the aforementioned<\/p>\n<p>order dated 13.4.2007.\n<\/p>\n<p>                      It may be true, as has been contended by Mr. Abhichandani,<\/p>\n<p>learned senior counsel that Section 14 of the Limitation Act, 1963 will have no<\/p>\n<p>application in view of the fact that provisions governing limitation are contained in<\/p>\n<p>the Customs Act. It is so for in a matter of this nature the Tribunal was required to<\/p>\n<p>consider the application filed by he appellant which was filed within a reasonable<\/p>\n<p>time. It should have also considered that the appellant had been bonafide pursuing its<\/p>\n<p>remedies before this Court.\n<\/p>\n<p>           We may place on record that for all intent and purport, this Court had<\/p>\n<p>granted liberty to the appellants to take recourse to the remedies suggested by its<\/p>\n<p>counsel as the word &#8216;accordingly&#8217; has been used before the words &#8216;the appeal is<\/p>\n<p>dismissed as withdrawn&#8217;.\n<\/p>\n<p>           The Tribunal did not consider the matter on merit. The Tribunal failed to<\/p>\n<p>take into consideration that, ipso-facto, in a case of this nature provisions of Section<\/p>\n<p>129B of the Customs Act as such has no effect. Label of an<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"hidden_text\">                                          -9-<\/span><\/p>\n<p>application is not decisive for consideration by the Tribunal as to whether a case has<\/p>\n<p>been made out to hear the application on merit, particularly, having regard to the<\/p>\n<p>grounds set out therein.\n<\/p>\n<p>           For the reasons aforementioned, we in exercise of our jurisdiction under<\/p>\n<p>Article 142 of the Constitution of India set aside the impugned judgment with a<\/p>\n<p>direction to the Tribunal to hear out the appellants afresh on merit on the said<\/p>\n<p>application.\n<\/p>\n<p>         The appeal is allowed. There shall,however, be no order as to costs.<\/p>\n<p>                                         &#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;J.\n<\/p>\n<p>                                          [S.B. SINHA]<\/p>\n<p>                                         &#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;..J<br \/>\n                     [ CYRIAC JOSEPH ]<\/p>\n<p>New Delhi,<br \/>\nNovember 17, 2008.\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"hidden_text\">                                            -10-<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Supreme Court of India Sunitidevi Singhania Hospital &#8230; vs Union Of India &amp; Anr on 17 November, 2008 Author: &#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;J. Bench: S.B. Sinha, Cyriac Joseph REPORTABLE IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CIVIL APPEAL NO. 6704 OF 2008 (Arising out of S.L.P. (C) No.10532\/2008) Sunitadevi Singhania Hospital &#8230;Appellant Trust and Anr. Versus [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-154828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-supreme-court-of-india"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Sunitidevi Singhania Hospital ... vs Union Of India &amp; Anr on 17 November, 2008 - Free Judgements of Supreme Court &amp; High Court | Legal India<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/sunitidevi-singhania-hospital-vs-union-of-india-anr-on-17-november-2008\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sunitidevi Singhania Hospital ... vs Union Of India &amp; 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