Whether delegate can further delegate his powers?

Supreme Court: The bench comprising Gyan Sudha Misra and Kurian Joseph, JJ, addressing the applicability of the maxim 'Delegatus Non Potest Delegare' to legislative and non-legislative conferred powers and the exceptions therein, delineated the difference between delegation of legislative and
non-legislative/administrative powers and opined that while a power of discharging essential legislative functions which also consisted in the determination or choosing of the legislative policy and formally enacting it into a binding rule of conduct could not be delegated to a secondary authority, a subordinate legislation which is generally in the realm of Rules and Regulations dealing with the procedure on implementation of plenary legislation is generally a task entrusted to a specified secondary authority. Further relying on some previous judgments, it was observed that while the primary decision making power so conferred on a primary delegate was to be retained, the ancillary or clerical/executory tasks could further be delegated to a secondary authority, thereby ruling that a manager of the Kolkata Port Trust, after deciding on the execution or termination of a lease-deed, was competent in delegating the ministerial job of execution to the Land Manager on his behalf and henceforth, a lease-termination deed issued by the Land Manager was held to be valid. [Sidhartha Sarawgi v. Board of Trustees for the Port of Kolkata, Special Leave Petition (Civil) No. 18347/2013, decided on 16th April, 2014]

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