Published on: 28 July 2023 at 09:43 IST
Court: Supreme Court
Citation: Calcutta Gas Co. Ltd. v. State of W.B. (1962)
Honourable Supreme Court of India has held that if by a statutory provision the right of an agent to carry on his business is affected, he may, in our considered opinion, in his own right maintain an action. It is held that if a legal right accruing to the litigant under the agreement is abridged by the impugned Act, then the agent has appropriate locus to say that the legal right was infringed by the provisions of the impugned Act.
“It is not necessary in this case to decide whether under the said agreement the appellant was constituted as agent or managing agent or a servant of the Oriental Gas Company. Whatever may be its character, by reason of Section 4 of the impugned Act, it was deprived of certain legal rights it possessed under the agreement. Under the agreement, the appellant had the right to manage the Oriental Gas Company for a period of 20 years and to receive remuneration for the same. But under Section 4 of the impugned Act, it was deprived of that right for a period of five years.
There was certainly a legal right accruing to the appellant under the agreement and that was abridged, if not destroyed, by the impugned Act. It is, therefore, impossible to say that the legal right of the appellant was not infringed by the provisions of the impugned Act. In the circumstances, as the appellant’s personal right to manage the Company and to receive remuneration therefor had been infringed by the provisions of the statute, it had locus standi to file the petition under Article 226 of the Constitution.”
Drafted By Abhijit Mishra