Administrative Law

B.S. Minhas v. Indian Statistical Institute

AIR 1984 SC 363

Facts

Indian Statistical Institute appointed a Director.
Its bye-law required that the vacancy should be suitably advertised/publicised.
The Institute appointed the Director without proper publicity.
The appointment was challenged as arbitrary and contrary to the Institute’s own bye-laws.

Whether a public authority can ignore its own bye-laws/directions merely because they are not statutory.

Even if bye-laws are not statutory, a public authority must follow them when they are made to regulate its own affairs fairly.
Public bodies must act according to the standards they set for themselves.
Ignoring internal procedure can become arbitrary and violate fair play under Article 14.

The Institute argued that the bye-law had no statutory force, so no writ could lie for its violation.
The Court rejected this narrow argument.
The Court focused on the nature of the Institute: it was treated as an authority under Article 12, so it could not act like a private body.
The bye-law requiring advertisement/publicity was not a mere formality.
Its purpose was to ensure:
fair opportunity to all eligible candidates;
wider field of consideration;
better chance of selecting the best person;
removal of suspicion of favouritism or arbitrariness.
Since the post was not publicised, eligible candidates may never have known about the vacancy.
This narrowed the choice before the Selection Committee and created doubt about fairness.
The Court said compliance with the bye-law was necessary in the name of fair play.
The important point is that the Court did not enforce the bye-law because it was “law” in the strict statutory sense.
It enforced it because a public authority cannot frame procedures to avoid arbitrariness and then ignore them whenever convenient.

The Supreme Court quashed the appointment.
It held that the Institute was bound to follow its own bye-laws because they were meant to ensure procedural fairness.
The case is important because it shows that administrative directions/bye-laws may become enforceable when ignoring them results in arbitrariness.
Use this case for: a public authority must follow self-imposed procedural standards, even if they are non-statutory, when fairness and Article 14 are involved.