- (1.) The petitioners are the owners of premises No. 31, Shakespeare Sarani, Calcutta, which is in the occupation of the Consulate General of USSR as a tenat. It was leased on 14th December, 1957 for a period of 23 years on a rent of Rs. 8,000/- per month. The period of 23 years was to expire on 14th January, 1981. Before the expiry of the said period, the petitioners served a notice dated 6th July, 1980 intimating the Consulate General that they did not intend to extend the lease any further and demanded possession of the premises. As the possession was not delivered, they desired to sue for eviction and sought the consent of the Central Government to do so as required by S. 86 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The requisition for consent was sent to the Central Government on 5th December, 1980. As no reply was received thereto within a reasonable time, the petitioners filed a Writ Petition in the High Court of Calcutta for a mandamus to command the Central Government to take a decision on their application for consent. In the said Writ Petition, the High Court passed an order on 21st January, 1982 directing the Central Government to dispose of the application in accordance with law, after giving the petitioners an opportunity of being heard, as early as possible, perferably within a period of four months from the date of the order. Despite the passing of the said order as the Central Government failed to dispose of the application within the time allowed, the petitioners filed a second Writ Petition seeking a mandamus to command the Central Government to dispose of their application of 5th December, 1980 in accordance with law. This second Writ Petition was disposed of on 21st June, 1983 with a direction that the application should be disposed of within a month's time. Even that order was not complied with. The petitioners were then constrained to file the present Writ Petition under Art. 32 of the Constitution in this 'Court. During the pendency of this Writ Petition, the Central Government passed an order dated February 1, 1984 rejecting the petitioners' application in the following terms: "With reference to our correspondence with you regarding your application for permission for legal action against the Consulate General of the USSR, 31, Shakespeare Sarani, Calcutta, under S. 86 of the Civil Procedure Code, 1 am directed to state that this Ministry is unable to give permission to you on political grounds for such action." After the receipt of this communication, the petitioners amended the Writ Petition and sought a relief for quashing this communication also.
(2.) The learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that the aforequoted order cannot be sustained in view of two decisions of this Court, viz., Mirza Ali Akbar Kashani v.United Arab Republic, 1966 (1) SCR 319 : (AIR 1966 SC 230) and Harbhajan Singh Dhalla v. Union of India, 1986 (4) SCC 678: (AIR 1987 SC 9).
(3.) In the first mentioned case, this Court observed as under (at page 236 of AIR 1966): "The limitation of the liability of foreign States to be sued is two-fold. The first limitation is that such a suit cannot be instituted except with the consent of the Central Government certified in writing by a Secretary to that Government. This requirement shows the anxiety of the Legislature to save foreign States from frivolous or unjustified claims. The second limitation is that the Central Government shall not give consent unless it appears to the Central Government that the case falls under one or the other of Cls. (a) to (d) of S. 86(2). In other words, the Legislature has given sufficient guidance to the Central Government to enable the said Government to decide the question as to when consent should be given to a suit being filed against the Ruler of a foreign State.";