Important Legal Definitions

"Hear the other side." A primary canon of natural justice requiring that no person shall be condemned, penalized, or subjected to an adverse administrative or judicial order without prior notice and a fair opportunity to present their defense.

In Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India, the Supreme Court held that impounding a citizen's passport without disclosing reasons or providing an opportunity to be heard violated audi alteram partem, reading the principle into Article 21.