MELLEGOWDA MANDYA DISTRICT Vs. C CHENNAVEEREGOWDA MANDYA DISTRICT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Jurisdiction is a vexed legal question which has haunted courts not merely at the lower tiers, but has not spared even highest court in the land and instances of even the Supreme Court going hack on its views in the context of the subject matter being within the purview of the jurisdiction of a particular forum or as to whether the forum has jurisdiction or not, being not uncommon, even when in judicial parlance, the legal question of jurisdiction has given rise to endless litigation and innumerable decisions not necessarily uniform, but many a times conflicting decisions have come into existence and expecting the revenue authorities like the Assistant Commissioner and the Deputy Commissioner to have a clear perception of the concept of jurisdiction is nothing short of aspiring for the Moon itself!

(2.) On the other hand, the tendency on the part of the executive and administrative authorities is to grab jurisdiction, clutch at jurisdiction as these authorities are accustomed to exercising power and interfere with the decisions of the authorities in the lower rank because of their superior position, acting more like an administrative authority whether or not the statute has expressly conferred such jurisdiction on a higher authority.

(3.) The dividing line between the administrative function and quasi judicial function is too fine and too blurred and such uncertainty is more often taken advantage of by the revenue authorities to exercise jurisdiction than to be wary and to confine within their power and authority as conferred by the statute.