Srinagar: The High Court of J&K and Ladakh has held that a man cannot incur loss of property or liberty for an offence by a judicial proceedings until he has a fair opportunity of answering the case against him.
Allowing an appeal filed by one Ghulam Nabi Turrey, a Bench of Justice Wasim Sadiq Nargal set aside an award of compensation passed in April 2019 by Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Shopian against the appellant without any notice to him.
The Court remanded back to the Tribunal the matter for rehearing and deciding the same in accordance with law within a period of three months.
“From bare perusal of the award, the finding has been recorded that a notice was although issued to the appellant (Turrey) but the appellant despite service did not appear and this was precisely the reason that the appellant was proceeded ex-parte,” the court said.
The finding of the Tribunal, the court said, is without any basis as there is no whisper in the award with regard to factum of service of the notice on the appellant nor there is any mention of the date when the notice was served to the appellant.