__________
BEFORE: __________
Diary / Registration No. ____________________ of 20________
(to be allotted by the office at the receipt counter on the day of presentation; the appellant must obtain it in writing on the spare copy before leaving the counter)
IN THE MATTER OF:
__________
... RESPONDENT
MOST RESPECTFULLY SHOWETH:
- 1. WHAT THIS DOCUMENT IS, AND WHY IT IS ADDRESSED TO THIS AUTHORITY AND NOT ANOTHER.
This document is presented as: __________. In it, the person presenting it is called "the appellant", and where this document is a revision that expression means the petitioner in revision; the property described in the Schedule is called "the said property"; the order challenged is called "the impugned order"; the Capital of Punjab (Development and Regulation) Act, 1952 is called "the Act"; and the Chandigarh Estate Rules, 2007 are called "the 2007 Rules".
The forum is fixed by statute. It is not a matter of preference or of convenience, and the appellant has satisfied himself or herself of it before addressing this document. The position is as follows.
(a) An order of the Estate Officer made under section 8 or section 8-A of the Act is appealable to the Chief Administrator, Union Territory of Chandigarh, within thirty days of the date of communication of that order, under section 10(1) of the Act.
(b) An order of the Estate Officer, or of any other competent authority, made under the 2007 Rules is appealable to the Chief Administrator, Union Territory of Chandigarh, within thirty days of the date of communication of that order, under Rule 18(i) of the 2007 Rules.
(c) A revision against an order of the Chief Administrator passed in a matter arising under section 8 or section 8-A of the Act lies to the Central Government under section 10(4) of the Act, and is addressed to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India (Union Territories Division), North Block, Central Secretariat.
(d) A revision against an order of the Chief Administrator passed under the 2007 Rules lies to the Adviser to the Administrator, Union Territory of Chandigarh, under Rule 18(iv) of the 2007 Rules, and must likewise be made in writing within thirty days of the date of communication of that order.
(e) Those two revisional authorities are different authorities. Which of them has jurisdiction turns on whether the order in the first appeal was made under the Act or under the 2007 Rules, and on nothing else. A revision presented to the wrong one is liable to be returned unheard, and the thirty days continue to run while it is being returned. Where the impugned order rests on both the Act and the 2007 Rules, the appellant states so expressly in paragraph 4 below so that the question of jurisdiction is raised at the threshold rather than at the end.
(f) THE HEADING AND THE ADDRESSEE ARE A MATCHED PAIR, AND THERE ARE ONLY FOUR OF THEM. The heading at the top of this page names the provision under which this document is presented. The authority named immediately beneath it must be the authority that provision gives. The four permitted pairs are: an appeal under section 10(1) of the Act, to the Chief Administrator; an appeal under Rule 18(i) of the 2007 Rules, to the Chief Administrator; a revision under section 10(4) of the Act, to the Central Government through the Ministry of Home Affairs; and a revision under Rule 18(iv) of the 2007 Rules, to the Adviser to the Administrator. There is no fifth pair. If the heading of this document and the authority named beneath it are not one of those four, this document has been mis-addressed, and it must be corrected before it is presented at any counter.
(g) The Chief Administrator may in addition, of his own motion or on an application, call for the record of any proceeding in which the Estate Officer has passed an order, in order to satisfy himself as to its legality or propriety, under section 10(3) of the Act and Rule 18(iii) of the 2007 Rules; and no order prejudicial to any person may be passed in that exercise without giving that person a reasonable opportunity of being heard.
(h) Section 19 of the Act bars every court from entertaining any suit or proceeding in respect of the recovery of any arrears or penalty under section 8, the resumption of any site or building under section 8-A, the forfeiture of any money under that section, or any order made in the exercise of any power conferred by or under the Act. This statutory ladder is therefore the appellant's only remedy, and a step in it that is abandoned or allowed to lapse is a remedy lost, not a remedy postponed.
- 10. THAT no other appeal, revision, review, petition or proceeding in respect of the impugned order has been filed by the appellant before this or any other authority, and that if any such proceeding is filed hereafter the appellant undertakes to inform this authority at once.
SCHEDULE OF THE SAID PROPERTY
ANNEXURES
Each annexure is filed in the number of copies the receiving counter requires, is paged and indexed, and is attested as a true copy by the appellant at its foot.
VERIFICATION BY THE APPELLANT
AFFIDAVIT IN SUPPORT, BY THE APPELLANT