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Showing posts from March 19, 2010

Discretion of Ministers'... a reasonable read...

I produce here one landmark English case – The padfield Case [1968] AC 997, decided by one of the most celebrated Judge of England- Lord Denning. This is how Lord Denning dealt with the case before it. His Lordship said- “It is plain to me that by these provisions parliament has provided machinery by which complaints of farmers can be investigated by a committee which is independent of the board and by which those complaints, if justified, can be remedied. No other machinery is provided. This case raises the important question: How far can the Minister reject the complaint out of hand ? Is the Minister at liberty in his unfettered discretion to withhold the matter from the committee of investigation and thus refuse the farmers a hearing by the committee ? And by refusing a hearing, refuse a remedy ? Mr Kemp, who appeared for the Milk Marketing Board, contended that the Minister need not consider the complaint at all. He could throw it into the waste paper basket without looking at