Natural Justice-Applicability of principles to Administrative proceedings-Violation of principles by first authority-Effect on ultimate decision.

In pursuance of the Indian Forest Service (Initial Recruitment) Regulation, 1966, framed under r. 4(1) of the Indian Forest Service (Recruitment) Rules made under the All India Services Act, 1951, a Special Selection Board was constituted for selecting officers to the lndian Forest Service in the senior and junior scales from Officers serving in the forest department of the State Of Jammu and Kashmir. One of the members of the Board was the Chief Conservator of Forests of the State, as required by the regulations. He was a Conservator of forests appointed as Acting Chief Conservator superseding another Conservator of Forests whose appeal to the State Government against his supersession was pending at the time the selections by the Board were made. The Acting Chief Conservator was aIso one of the candidates seeking to be selected to the Indian Forest Service. The Board made the selection of officers in the senior and junior scales. The Acting Chief Conservator's name was at the top of the list of selected officers, while the names of three conservators, (including the officer who was superseded, He also participated in the Board's deliberations while preparing the list of selected candidates in order of preference. The list and the records were sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Home Affairs forwarded the list with its observations to the Union Public Service Commission, as required by the Regulations, and the U.P.S.C. examined the records of the officers afresh and made its recommendations. The Government of India thereafter notified the list. The three conservators, whose names were not included in the list, and other aggrieved officers filed a petition in this Court under Art. 32 for quashing the notification. 

On the questions : (1) Assuming that the proceedings in the present case were administrative proceedings, whether principles of natural justice applied to them;(2) Whether there was a violation of such principles of natural justice in the present case; (3) Since the recommendations of the Board were first considered by the Home Ministry and the final recommendations were made by the U.P.S.C., whether there was any basis for the petitioners' grievances; (4) Whether there were grounds for setting aside the selection of all the officers including those in the junior scales.