(1.) PASSION and prejudice are two charlatans that lie in stealthy wait to waylay any quasi-judicial adjudication, however noble the purpose of the exercise. To the two original limbs of natural justice of audi alteram partem (nobody shall be condemned unheard) and nemo debet esse judex in propria sua causa (nobody shall be judge of his own cause), has been added a third: the duty to assign reasons. A quasi-judicial order is founded on reason, not instinct. An order made on impression is erroneous in form and substance.
(2.) THE petitioner in the present proceedings under Article 226 of the constitution of India challenges a decision made on the recommendation of an enquiry commission set up by the University to look into the charges of alleged malpractice involving two theses submitted for Phd degrees under the faculty of science of the University. The full report has been disclosed in the University's affidavit. The one-man enquiry commission has begun the report by recording the receipt of three documents along with the letter of appointment: a copy of a resolution of the executive council of the University dated August 17, 2006; copies of the two theses; and, a copy of a preliminary report of an enquiry conducted by the Dean of the faculty of science of the University.
(3.) IN the first effective paragraph of the report, immediately after the letter of appointment and the three above documents are cited, the commission comments: