Natural Justice Must Yield To Preserve National Security: Delhi High Court Upholds Revoking Of Celebi's Clearance

Dismissing Turkey based company Celebi Airport Services Pvt Ltd's plea against revocation of its security clearance by Centre, the Delhi High Court on Monday observed that while natural justice is an important Constitutional principle however in matters of "security of the realm", natural justice must yield to preserve national security. Justice Sachin Datta in his order observed that in the present case, on perusal of the relevant inputs, it had transpired that there are "compelling national security considerations involved", which impelled the respondents to take action against Celebi. The court in its 94 page order said:"While it would not be inappropriate for this Court to make a verbatim reference to the relevant information/inputs, suffice it to say, that there is a necessity to eliminate the possibility of espionage and/or dual use of logistics capabilities which would be highly detrimental to the security of the country, especially in the event of an external conflict. Suffice it also to say, that there are impelling geo-political considerations, impinging upon the safety of the country, which are also involved. Madhyamam (supra) specifically recognizes that “it is the executive wing and not the judicial wing that has the knowledge of India's geopolitical relationships to assess if an action is in the interest of India's national security” [Paragraph 84 of the Madhyamam (supra)]. As per settled law (as noticed hereinabove), once national security considerations are found to exist, on the basis of which the security clearance has been cancelled/revoked, it is not for the Court to “second guess” the same". The high court said that principles of natural justice are sacrosanct, however, it is a "compelling constitutional truth that security of the realm is the pre-condition for enjoyment of all other rights". The court said that the Central authorities was justified in taking prompt and definitive action so as to completely "obviate the possibility of country's civil aviation and national security being compromised". "Ground handling services at airports offer deep access to airside operations, aircrafts, cargo, passenger information system and security zones. Such unbridled access to vital installations and infrastructure naturally elevates the need for strict security vetting for operators, and their foreign affiliations. This is particularly true in the wake of contemporary challenges faced by the country in the security domain, and the escalations/incidents witnessed in the recent past, with geopolitical factors at play. The action taken is consistent with the judicially evolved principles, recognized across jurisdictions, which give primacy to legitimate national security considerations, even when weighed against the procedural due process," it added.It further said that it can appreciate the necessity of maintaining secrecy in respect of document/s on the basis of which the security clearance of Celebi had been revoked as its disclosure of the would not be conducive to security and safety considerations and international relations.Can 'National Security' afford an exception to the natural justice principles?The court in its order examined whether national security considerations can afford an exception to the principles of natural justice and to what extent is the existence of national security considerations (warranting cancellation/revocation of the petitioners' security clearance), justiciable in court. The court referring to various judgments said that it had been laid down that:"in matters pertaining to the security of the realm, the principles of natural justice must yield to preservation of natural security. This position has been affirmed and recognised not only by the Courts in India, but also in other jurisdictions such as the UK and USA". Referring to decisions of the US Supreme Court and the high court observed, "...the view taken by the US Supreme Court is that there should be minimal judicial interference in respect of administrative actions/denial of security clearance on considerations of national security. In Department of Navy (supra), it was noticed that the security clearance may be granted only when it is “clearly consistent with the interest of national security”. It was further noticed that the security clearance does not equate with parting judgment upon an individual's character, instead, it is only an attempt to assess whether, under compulsion of circumstances or for other reasons, the individual might compromise sensitive information. The US Supreme Court went on to observe that predictive judgments of this kind are best made by those with the necessary expertise in protecting classified information". The court thus found that the proposition that procedural due process and natural justice may be dispensed with where National security is involved finds support in both domestic and comparative constitutional jurisprudenceJusticiability of...

Natural Justice Must Yield To Preserve National Security: Delhi High Court Upholds Revoking Of Celebi's Clearance

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Natural Justice Must Yield To Preserve National Security: Delhi High Court Upholds Revoking Of Celebi's Clearance

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