24 September 2020 Business Laws >> Business & Commercial Law  

A company (Petitioner) recently won a court case challenging a government order that only partially granted them a benefit under a specific notification.

The Petitioner argued that they had met the investment criteria required for the full benefit by 2013 through a series of investments. However, the government agency (Respondent) only applied the benefit starting from the date the criteria were fully met, not retroactively.

On top of that, the Petitioner claimed they were not given the opportunity to be heard by the Respondent before the order was issued. This, they argued, violated their right to a fair hearing, a principle of natural justice.

The Respondent countered that the benefit was applied correctly based on the notification's guidelines. They also argued that the Petitioner should have appealed the order through the proper channels instead of filing a petition with the court.

The court, however, sided with the petitioner. They found that the Respondent had not provided the Petitioner with a fair hearing before issuing the order. As a result, the court decided to set aside the Respondent's order.

The case will now be referred back to the relevant authority for them to reconsider the Petitioner's claim after providing them with a proper hearing.