Neglecting Procedures

Samparan Charitable Trust vs. Union of India

Filed Under: Article 14 of the Constitution of India, 1950
Appellant: Samparan Charitable Trust
Respondent: Union of India
Citation: AIR 1998 Del 72
Court: In the High Court of Delhi
Judge: CM Nayar

Facts

Samparan Charitable Trust was registered under the Societies Registration Act. This organization was engaged in providing artificial limbs/calipers/crutches and other aid to the handicapped people. It also rehabilitated the handicapped people by providing them alternative employment. With this aim in view it had established a rehabilitation center at Bahariach - Lucknow Road, U.P and also established another unit at Noida.

The Government of India had formulated a scheme known as "Assistance to Disabled Persons for purchase of Fitting Aids/Appliances." According to this scheme, any individual in need of such aid would approach the implementing agency, which would satisfy itself about the eligibility of the person and give him/her the necessary aid/appliances in lieu.

The scheme also stated that the implementing agencies would have to submit an application in a prescribed format and would also have to indicate their annual requirement once every year. A number of other requirements were also stated by the scheme.

The assistance was given to the Samparan Charitable Trust by the Government for one year on terms and conditions that had been specified in a communication addressed to the Trust. After one year was over, the UOI wrote a letter to the Trust to revalidate the unspent balance of the previous year for utilizing it during the next year. Thereafter, the UOI wrote another letter to them giving directions that the unspent balance should not be spent by the organization.

The Samparan Charitable Trust then filed this petition against the UOI for not granting them funds as covered under the scheme.

In response to this petition, the UOI filed a counter-affidavit. In the affidavit it was claimed that the CBI was investigating the Trust. It was contended that in view of the fact that the affairs of the organization were under investigation, the Department had not considered it appropriate to release grants for the organization.

In response to this, the lawyer on behalf of the Trust had cited previous judgments of the Supreme Court. However, the lawyer on behalf of the UOI had contended that the Trust had no legal or statutory right to make a claim for the grant. It was further stated that the organization had clearly violated the terms of the grant by not submitting the audited accounts or the utilization certificate.

According to him, the conditions of assistance very clearly stated that the amount of assistance to be granted would be decided by the Government of India. And based on these, the petition should not be entertained.

Observations of the Court

After examining the relevant previous judgments and the arguments put forth by both the parties, the Court observed that withholding the grant from the Samparan Charitable Trust was not violative of any provisions of the law. It was also held by the Court that there were good reasons for why such an action had been taken by the UOI.

Sections Referred:

Article 14 of the Constitution of India, 1950

Cases Referred:

  • R Vijay Kumar vs. Commr. Of Excise 1994 AIR SCW 181: 1994 Supp (2) SCC 47
  • Union of India vs. Hindustan Development Corporation AIR 1994 SC 988: (1993) 3 SCC 499: 1994 AIR SCW 643
  • Ghaziabad Development Authority vs. Delhi Auto & General Finance Pvt. Ltd. 1994 AIR SCW 2135: (1994) 4 SCC 42
  • Navjyoti Coop. Group Housing Society vs. Union of India 1992 AIR SCW 3075: (1992) 4 SCC 477