Hon'ble J. Rohit Ranjan Agarwal : A Justice - Oriented Judge

Hon'ble Rohit Ranjan Agarwal, J : A Justice - Oriented Judge

A Guest Article by

Shashank Singh

Advocate

Allahabad High Court & Supreme Court of India

It has been remarked by Mr. Justice (Retd) S.S. Dhavan in "The Indian Judicial System : A historical Survey" [available at http://www.allahabadhighcourt.in/event/TheIndianJudicialSystem_SSDhavan.pdf] that "the judges and counselors guiding the king during the trial of a case were required to be independent and fearless and prevent him from committing any error or injustice."  Hon'ble J. Rohit Ranjan Agarwal has been writing brilliant judgments which often provokes thoughts on wide ranging issues of law. His way of appreciating law and analysing facts are a lesson for many young lawyers who wish to learn law. Being a regular reader of some of his judgments, I would like to highlight Hon'ble J. Rohit Ranjan Agarwal's contribution to cause of justice and development of law. I have been fortunate to have close interactions with him from 2015 to 2018 in the corridors of India's one of the most prestigious Allahabad High Court.

Let me begin with a short snapshot of some of his 5 interesting decisions. 

In an interesting case of Chaudhari Properties v Vipin Badhvar [2021] GCtR 3035 (Allahabad) explaining the aspects regarding partnership firms and the law surrounding, he emphatically wrote at page 9 that "in the partnership business, all the partners are jointly and severally liable for the act of the Firm". In another equally interesting case of S.D. Traders v Commissioner of Income Tax [2019] GCtR 1160 (Allahabad), where an Order of  Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Lucknow Bench was under challenge, explaining the fine contours of Income-tax Act, 1961 he brilliantly reasoned at page no.15 that "a careful reading of Section 251 of Income tax Act, 1961 reveals that power vest in Commissioner (Appeals), in an appeal against an assessment order, where he can confirm, reduce enhance or annul the assessment. Explanation to Section 251 further clarifies the position and empowers Commissioner (Appeals) to consider and decide any matter arising out of proceedings in which the order appealed against was passed, notwithstanding that said matter was not raised before him by the appellant, meaning thereby that power exercisable by CIT (Appeal) under Section 251 cannot be restricted to only the issues raised by the appellant in any appeal before him, but Commissioner can exercise his discretion in accordance with law." 

In another interesting case of Monika Gupta v Jitendra Gandhi [2019] GCtR 1161 (Allahabad) allowing the appeal and dismissing the application under Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act for restitution of conjugal rights, he explained that "matrimonial proceedings cannot be simply decided on the basis of mere evidence on record, sometimes the Court while examining and scrutinizing the case has to decide on the circumstances which led to the filing of the case". In the year 2019, in the case of Arati Patel v State of UP [2019] GCtR 1162 (Allahabad), where a Cadre Secretary posted at Kolana Sadhan Sahkari Samiti Ltd had filed the petition challenging his suspension order, he explained an important concept of service law. He wrote that "as the action taken by respondent-Authorities are not in violation of any of the Rules or Regulations as contemplated"  "no ground for interference in order of suspension under challenge". However, he added that "it is open to petitioner to approach the District Administrative Committee for getting her suspension revoked under the relevant resolutions of 1978."

In another interesting case of CIT v Vam Resorts & Hotels Pvt Ltd [2019] GCtR 1163 (Allahabad) where an ITAT Delhi's Order was challenged, it was found out that in this case "CIT wrongly exercised jurisdiction under Section 263 of the Act" and was explained by Hon'ble J. RR Agarwal that "as far as the word “record” appearing in Clause (b) of Explanation-1 to Section 263 of Income-tax Act, 1961 is concerned, it means the record available at the time of examination by the Commissioner of Income Tax and not any material or record available subsequent to his examination or exercise of power under Section 263". 

As noted in an academic view that independence and fearlessness are some of the qualities of a Judge. Apart from these two qualities, the Judgments authored by Hon'ble J. Rohit Ranjan Agarwal show his devotion towards scholarship of law.

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Author Can be reached at email address: shashanksingh1@yahoo.co.in