“Casual And Lackadaisical”: Rajasthan High Court Sets Aside One-Line Order Rejecting Prisoner's Plea For Transfer To Open Air Camp
While setting aside an unreasoned order rejecting petitioner's application to be transferred to Open Air Camp, Rajasthan High Court held that mere existence of power to reject such request did not justify mechanical exercise in the absence of any compelling reasons recorded in writing. The bench of Justice Farjand Ali held that the order reflected a “casual and lackadaisical” approach...
While setting aside an unreasoned order rejecting petitioner's application to be transferred to Open Air Camp, Rajasthan High Court held that mere existence of power to reject such request did not justify mechanical exercise in the absence of any compelling reasons recorded in writing.
The bench of Justice Farjand Ali held that the order reflected a “casual and lackadaisical” approach in exercise of this statutory discretion and fell short of minimum standards of administrative fairness expected of a statutory authority.
The petitioner was convicted under NDPS Act, and had applied to be transferred to Open Air Camp which was rejected by the authority with a single-line observation without providing any reasons, consideration or objective grounds. Hence, petition was filed against this order.
After hearing the contentions and perusing the records, the Court observed,
“The authority empowered to consider applications for transfer to Open Air Camps is required to undertake a conscientious evaluation of several relevant factors, including the prisoner's conduct within the prison precincts, the nature of the offence, the eligibility parameters prescribed under the governing rules and the broader objectives of the Open Air Camp scheme, which is fundamentally rehabilitative in character. The decision-making process must therefore reflect a judicious balance between institutional discipline and the reformative philosophy underlying the penal system.”
The Court highlighted that the rejection was based on bald and unexplained assertion and such unreasoned determination contravened Article 14 that mandated fairness and equality.
Hence, the Court set aside the order and remitted the matter to the authorities for fresh examination.
Title: Nirmal Dudani v State of Rajasthan & Ors.
Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Raj) 105