Sk. Kausar Ali vs State Of West Bengal And Ors. on 31 March, 1998
In C.S. Batamma Iyer v. Krishnan Kunehandt . a Full Bench of the Kerala High Court, lias inter alia, held that Additional Subordinate Judge does not come within the purview of Subordinate Judge. In Broom's Legal Maxims, 10th Edition at page 571, while discussing with the functions of the delegated authority, it is stated : "Nor can an individual, clothed with Judicial functions, delegate the discharge of these functions to another, unless, as in the case of a County Court Judge, he be expressly expowered to do so. "By reason of section 2(5) of the said Act, the District Magistrate has not been expressly empowered to delegate his judicial functions to the Additional District Magistrate or any other authority. From the definition of District Magistrate, it will be seen that the same may mean to include any other Magistrate appointed by the State Government to discharge all or any of the functions of a District Magistrate under the Act, which could not have been the intention of the legislature while enacting section 213Bof the Act. Furthermore, the words 'prescribed authority' have been defined separately in section 2(19) to mean an authority appointed by the State Government by notification for all or any of the purposes of the Act. Thus, the words 'prescribed authority' have to be given the full effect and meaning in view of the provision contained in section 213B of the said Act. If an authority has been prescribed to discharge a particular function in his capacity as a prescribed authority, he alone has to discharge such function and the question of delegating his power in terms of section 2(5) of the Act, would not arise only because the prescribed authority happens to be the District Magistrate. There is no provision for delegation of power by a prescribed authority.