Dera Cable Network, D.I.Khan through Abdur Rashid Khan and others have filed this appeal against Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority through Chairman, Headquarters, Green Trust Tower, 6th Floor, Jinnah Avenue Blue Area, Islamabad and 5 others under Section 30-A of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority Ordinance, 2002 read with Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Act, 2007.
2. Briefly narrated the facts of the case are that on 29.10.2007 petitioner Abdur Rashid Khan, being the Managing Director of Dera Cable Network according to the partnership deed dated 27.10.2007, submitted an application to the respondents seeking permission to install a cable Network and prayed for the issuance of licence. The application was also supported by two demand drafts dated 20.10.2007 for Rs, 1,50,000/- and Rs, 85,000/- respectively as fee for the licence. The respondents, by a short order dated 22.11.2007 through a letter communicated to the appellants, informed them that, as there are already functioning four cable Networks in D.I.Khan Division, no scope exists for the issuance of further licence.
3. At the outset, Mr. Abdul Qayyum Qureshi, learned counsel for the appellants submitted that the impugned order has been passed at the back of the appellants and no notice of hearing has been given to the appellants and thus, they have been deprived of their right. It was also argued that in this way the well known maxim of law, "that nobody should be condemned unheard", which is so well entrenched in our judicial system, has been violated.
4. On the other hand, Mr. Irfan Khan Tajukhel, learned counsel appearing for the respondents submitted that there was no need to issue a notice to the appellants and to afford them an opportunity of hearing and the concerned authorities i,e, the respondents have decided the matter on the existing record on merits, the result whereof has duly been communicated to the appellants.
5. I have gone through the appeal file and the documents existing on the record.
6. It is an established principle of law that while passing an order, the appellant or the petitioner, as the case may 'be, has a right of hearing which cannot be denied to him especially in the circumstances when in this case even no notice of hearing has been issued to the appellants. By now it is a settled principle of law that not only in judicial proceedings, but, also in administrative actions, the petitioner or the appellant, as the case may be, is always entitled to a notice or a chance of hearing.
8. Furthermore, even in a lis pending in Administrative Tribunals or Quasi-judicial Tribunals, the right of hearing of a party is a must which is derived from natural justice as nobody could be condemned unheard as held in the case of Baldvin and Francis Ltd:. Vs. Patents Appeals Tribunal (1959 AC 663), that the legislature while conferring jurisdiction on a particular Tribunal is with the condition that the Tribunal shall strictly decide the case in accordance with law. It has been repeatedly held by the apex Court that when the Tribunal makes an error of law and decides the matter pending before it, the Tribunal over-skips its jurisdiction and the same has been quashed in view of the dictum laid down in the case of Utility Stores Corporation of Pakistan Ltd: Vs. Punjab Labour Appellate Tribunal and others (PLD 1987 SC 447).
9. Perusal of the impugned order dated 22.11.2007 reveals that the same is cursory, non-speaking and violative of the law and is liable to be struck down.
10.In view of the facts and circumstances of the case, this appeal is accepted, the impugned order is set-aside and the matter is remitted back to the learned Tribunal constituted under Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority Ordinance, 2002 duly amended by Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Act, 2007 to re-decide the same afresh strictly in accordance with law, after giving an opportunity of hearing to the appellants. The appellants are directed to appear before the Regional General Manager PEMRA, N.W.F.P., Lane-I, Muslim Road, Peshawar Cantt: on 02.6.2008 for re-decision of the matter on merits.