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Ramendrapati tripathi   17 March 2020

Principle of Legitimate expectation

kindly suggest citations on the Principle of Legitimate expectation.


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 1 Replies

Palak Singh   02 April 2020

Hey,

‘Doctrine of legitimate expectation', which is an outcome of synthesis between the principle of administrative fairness (a component of the principles of natural justice) and the rule of estoppel.

Legitimate Expectations, are different from Expectations at large, and are not Legal rights, but are expectation of benefits, relief/remedy that accrues from a promise or established practices, and give rise to locus standi to a person to seek judicial review of any action, of State or its subsidiaries, which are arbitrary, discriminatory, unfair, malicious in law, devoid of Rule of law and violative of the principles of Natural Justice.

The evolvement of the doctrine of Legitimate Expectation in the Common law jurisdiction can been traced to an obiter dictum of Lord Denning M. R in Sehmidt v. Secretary of Home Affairs. Lord Denning observed in Sehmidt:

"The speeches in Ridge v Baldwin show that an administrative body may, in a proper case, be bound to give a person who is affected by their decision an opportunity of making representations. It all depends on whether he has some right or interest or I would add, some legitimate expectation, of which it would not be fair to deprive him without hearing what he has to say ...."

In India, the Apex Court in M/S Sethi Auto Service Station vs Delhi Development Authority & Ors.

Other citations with respect to Legitimate Expectation are:

  1. Council of Civil Service Unions & Ors. Vs. Minister for the Civil Service, a locus classicus on the topic, wherein for the first time an attempt was made to give a comprehensive definition to the principle of legitimate expectation. 
  2. In Attorney General of Hong Kong Vs. Ng Yuen Shiu: "when a public authority has promised to follow a certain procedure, it is in the interest of good administration that it should act fairly and should implement its promise, so long as the implementation does not interfere with in its statutory duty".
  3. Food Corporation of India Vs. M/s Kamdhenu Cattle Feed Industries: "The mere reasonable or legitimate expectation of a citizen, in such a situation, may not by itself be a distinct enforceable right, but failure to consider and give due weight to it may render the decision arbitrary, and this is how the requirement of due consideration of a legitimate expectation forms part of the principle of non-arbitrariness, a necessary concomitant of the rule of law.
  4. Union of India & Ors. Vs. Hindustan Development Corporation & Ors.
  5. National Buildings Construction Corporation Vs. S. Raghunathan & Ors.
  6. Punjab Communications Ltd. Vs. Union of India & Ors., referring to a large number of authorities on the question, observed that a change in policy can defeat a substantive legitimate expectation if it can be justified on "Wednesbury" reasonableness. The decision maker has the choice in the balancing of the pros and cons relevant to the change in policy. Therefore, the choice of the policy is for the decision maker and not for the Court. 
  7. Jitendra Kumar & Ors. Vs. State of Haryana & Anr. It has been reiterated that a legitimate expectation is not the same thing as anticipation. It is distinct and different from a desire and hope.

Hope this helps!

Regards

Palak Singh


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