State a 'single litigant' for courts, should come with unified stand: SC

The State is a “single litigant” for the courts and it should come with a unified stand after taking on board all the departments concerned, the Supreme Court has said.

The observation by a bench headed by Justice BR Gavai came while noting that there appeared to be some inter-se disputes between the forest and revenue departments of the Mizoram government in a matter pertaining to a May 1965 notification.

The apex court noted a single judge of the Gauhati High Court’s Aizawl bench, in January 2021, held the notification issued in the Assam Gazette dated May 19, 1965, “notifying the order passed by the chief executive officer, Mizo District Council, declaring forests located within half a mile on either side of the river Tuirial and 15 other rivers to be the Council Reserved Forest, is not sustainable in law”.

It said the state had preferred an appeal before a division bench of the high court but on November 9, 2022, it sought liberty to withdraw the appeal with the liberty to file a fresh one, if required.

The top court noted the submissions of different parties, including the state of Mizoram and the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL), that the single judge’s judgment was posing various problems and it would be appropriate that the appeal be restored and decided on merits in accordance with law.

“Taking into consideration the huge ramification of the order passed by the single judge of the Gauhati High Court and also the cascading effect that it may have on various issues, including the construction of highways or rights of the citizens, we find that it will be appropriate that the said writ appeal along with connected matters are restored to the original file and directed to be decided on their own merits,” the bench said.

The bench, also comprising Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice KV Viswanathan, said it was a fit case for the apex court to exercise its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution and restore the appeal to the file of the division bench of the high court.

While restoring the appeal, the bench said, “Taking into consideration the importance of the matter, we request the high court to decide the said appeal as expeditiously as possible and, in any case, within a period of three months from today”.

The bench noted it had in July stayed the judgment of the single judge of the high court and the said order shall continue to operate till disposal of the appeal.

“It further appears that there have been some inter se disputes between the forest department and the revenue department of the Government of Mizoram,” it said in its order passed last week.

“We have reiterated, time and again, that for the courts, the State is a single litigant and the State should come with a unified stand after taking on board all the concerned departments,” the bench said.

The top court said it would be appropriate that the chief secretary of Mizoram held a meeting with the secretaries of the revenue and forest departments in order to resolve the issue.

“We request the same to be done as expeditiously as possible so that the important projects necessary for the development of the area are not stalled,” it said.