Where the law prescribes a thing to be done in a particular manner following a particular procedure, it shall be done in the same manner

(2022) 7 JT 428

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

DIVISON BENCH

UNION OF INDIAAND OTHERS — Appellant

Vs.

MAHENDRA SINGH — Respondent

( Before : Hemant Gupta and Vikram Nath, JJ. )

Civil Appeal No. 4807 of 2022 (Arising out of SLP (Civil) No. 19886 of 2019)

Decided on : 25-07-2022

Service Law - Rejection of candidature - RPF Constable - Candidate has

used different language for filling up of the application form and the OMR

answer book, therefore, his candidature was rightly rejected.

It is well settled that if a

particular procedure in filling up the application form is prescribed, the application form

should be filled up following that procedure alone. This was enunciated by Privy Council

in the Nazir Ahmad v. King- Emperor, 1936 SCC OnLine PC 41 wherein it was held

that 'that where a power is given to do a certain thing in a certain way the thing must be

done in that way or not at all. Other methods of performance are necessarily forbidden.'

15. A three Judge Bench of this Court in a judgment reported as Chandra Kishore Jha v.

Mahavir Prasad & Ors., (1999) 8 SCC 266 held as under:

'17....................It is a well-settled salutary principle that if a statute provides for a

thing to be done in a particular manner, then it has to be done in that manner and in

no other manner. (See with advantage: Nazir Ahmad v. King Emperor [(1935- 36)

63 IA 372 : AIR 1936 PC 253 (II)] , Rao Shiv Bahadur Singh v. State of V.P. [AIR

1954 SC 322 : 1954 SCR 1098] , State of U.P. v. Singhara Singh [AIR 1964 SC

358 : (1964) 1 SCWR 57] .) An election petition under the rules could only have

been presented in the open court up to 16-5- 1995 till 4.15 p.m. (working hours of the

Court) in the manner prescribed by Rule 6 (supra) either to the Judge or the Bench as

the case may be to save the period of limitation. That, however, was not

done................'

16. The said principle has been followed by this Court in Cherukuri Mani v. Chief

Secretary, Government of Andhra Pradesh & Ors., (2015) 13 SCC 722 wherein this

Court held as under:

'14. Where the law prescribes a thing to be done in a particular manner following a

particular procedure, it shall be done in the same manner following the provisions of

law, without deviating from the prescribed procedure.............'

17. Similarly, this Court in Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) v.

Abhilash Lal & Ors., (2020) 13 SCC 234 and OPTO Circuit India Limited v. Axis

Bank & Ors., (2021) 6 SCC 707 has followed the said principle