Natural justice is an term of English common law, and involves a procedural
requirement of fairness.
The principles of natural justice have great importance in the study
of Administrative law. The above stated statement stands true to its words i.e. the concept of
natural justice is indeed elastic and is not susceptible to precise definition hereby, meaning
for say right of being heard the person whose right is going to seize or against whom any
action is going to be taken shall be given a chance to defend himself to secure their rights.
As said above, there is no precise and scientific definition to natural justice. However, the
concept of natural justice is being widely acceptable and enforced, derived from the
word ‘Jus Natural’ of the Roman law and it is closely related to Common law and moral
principles but is not codified. It is a law of nature which is not derived from any statute or
constitution. The principle of natural justice is adhered to by all the citizens of civilised State
with Supreme importance.
Basically, natural justice consists of 3 rules:
- Hearing rule
- Bias rule
- Reasoned Decision
Natural justice is a sense of what is wrong and what is right. In India, this concept was
introduced at an early time.
Also we can see in the case of Mohinder Singh Gill vs. Chief Election Commissioner, the court held that the concept of fairness should be in every action whether it is judicial, quasi-judicial, administrative and or quasi-administrative work.
Rules of Natural Justice
- NEMO JUDEX IN CAUSA SUA: – “No one should be a judge in his own
case” because it leads to rule of biases. - AUDI ALTERAM PARTEM: – It simply includes 3 Latin word which basically means
that no person can be condemned or punished by the court without having a fair
opportunity of being heard. - REASONED DECISION
The principles of natural justice have been adopted and followed by the judiciary to protect
public rights against the arbitrary decision by the administrative authority. One can easily see
that the rule of natural justice include the concept of fairness: they stay alive and support to
safeguard the fair dealing.
