Practice and Procedure -a. An authority (either a judicial or quasi-judicial authority) must not be impleaded in an appeal against its order if the order was issued solely in exercise of its “adjudicatory function”; b. An authority must be impleaded as a respondent in the appeal against its order if it was issued in exercise of its regulatory role since the authority would have a vital interest in ensuring the protection of public interest; and c. An authority may be impleaded as a respondent in the appeal against its order where its presence is necessary for the effective adjudication of the appeal in view of its domain expertise- What are the tests to identify if a function is an adjudicatory one? One of the factors to determine if an order was issued in exercise of an adjudicatory function, is whether it was specific to an individual or of general application. The second is that it is not necessary that a legislative action must always be ‘subjective’ and an adjudicatory function ‘objective’. (Para 33,48)
Airport Economic Regulatory Authority of India Act 2008 – Section 31,13- AERA is performing a regulatory function while determining tariff under Section 13(1)(a) of the AERA Act -Appeals filed by AERA against orders of TDSAT under Section 31 of the AERA Act are maintainable. (para 58,67)
Code Of Civil Procedure 1908 -Order 1 Rule 10- A necessary party is defined as someone who is indispensable to the suit and without whom the suit cannot effectively proceed. A proper party, on the other hand, is a party who has an interest in the adjudication of the suit though they may not be a person in whose favour or against whom a decree ought to be made- A party would not become a necessary party merely because she has an interest in the correct solution of the question involved. She would be a necessary party only when she would be bound by the result of the action and has a direct or a legal interest in the proceeding. (Para 32)