One time concession by courts not law: SC

Such a concession offered by courts will not have any binding effect and cannot be cited as a example, says SC.

An order passed by a court as a concession or one-time relief to aggrieved persons cannot become a law by itself, the Supreme Court has ruled.



Such a concession offered by courts would not have any binding effect and cannot be cited as a precedent by others to seek similar relief, a bench of Justices AK Mathur and Dalveer Bhandari held while quashing a Calcutta High Court order that directed the appointment of 55 trained teachers in government schools.



The High Court had ordered the appointment of petitioner Sristidhar Biswas and 54 others.



Biswas, in his petition, cited the precedents of two other batches of candidates appointed on the directions of the court.



The two batches totalling 196 candidates were appointed in 1989 as teachers by the government on the High Court's direction.



At the time of giving relief to the first batch of candidates, which came to be known as the Sirazul Haque Mallick and others case, the High Court had clearly said that the direction for their appointment was being given as a one-time concession and should not be cited as a precedent.



Despite this direction, another bench of the High Court directed the appointment of a fresh batch of 88 candidates on a petition filed by a candidate, Dibakar Pal, who cited the appointment of Sirazul Haque Mallick and others.