VERY IMPORTANT POINT
The post of One Man Commission constituted by the Government of Karnataka to study the problems of Kannadigas in the boarder areas is an office of profit.

Headnote:Representation of the People Act, 1951-Section 81-Election petition under-Challenging the election of present appellants as members of the Karnataka Legislative Council on the ground that nomination of Vatal Nagaraj, respondent No.1 has been improperly rejected within the ambit of Section 100(1)(c) of the Act-High Court holding that the post of chairman of One Man Commission which said Nagaraj was holding was not an office of profit and therefore, the returning officer illegally rejected the nomination paper of Mr. Vatal Nagaraj and declared the said election null and void-Appeals against to Supreme Court-Whether High Court was correct in holding that order of rejection was improper? (No) (see paras 2 to 5)-Case law referred-Appeals allowed-Election of appellants upheld [Constitution of India-Articles 191 r/w 100(2).
       Held : In our view, taking into account the order of the Government constituting the Commission, to study the problems of Kannadigas in the Border areas of Kerala, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Goa and Tamil Nadu and to submit a report to the Government and the appointment of Shri Vatal Nagaraj as a Chairman of that Commission and thereafter conferring the status of the Minister of Cabinet rank to that post and finally making a Budgetary provision in order to a new head of account to defray the expenses of pay and day to day expenses of the Chairman of the Commission it must be held that the office was office of profit within the ambit of Article 191(1) of the Constitution and the rejection of nomination on that score was not improper and High Court committed error in holding that the nomination had been improperly rejected. Our aforesaid conclusion is further strengthened by the provisions of the Karnataka Legislature (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1956. The said Act had been enacted by the Karnataka Legislature on 15th January, 1957 declaring certain offices not to be the office of profit and stating that the holders thereof are not ineligible for being chosen as, or for being members of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly and Karnataka Legislative Council. Under Article 191(1)(a) a person who is disqualified for being chosen as and for being a member of the Legislative Assembly or Legislative Council, if he holds any office of profit under the Government of India or the Government of a State other than an office declared by the legislature of the State by law not to disqualify its holder. The aforesaid Karnataka Act appears to have been enacted, as contemplated under Article 191(1)(a) of the Constitution. Section 2(a) defines a Committee to mean any Committee, Commission, Council, Board or any other body of one or more persons whether statutory or not, set up by the Government of India or the government of any State. Section 3 (d) includes the office of the Chairman or Member of a committee, and therefore, by application of Section 3, the office of the Chairman or member of a Committee would stand excluded from the disqualification ordinarily. But the proviso to the said clause further indicate that the holder of any such office is not in receipt of or entitled to, any remuneration other than the compensatory allowance. The expression compensatory allowance has been defined in Section 2(b). The Chairman or a member of a Committee, therefore it is in receipt of or is entitled to any remuneration other than compensatory allowance then the removal of disqualification clause would not apply and the person concerned would stand disqualified. The fact that the office of the Chairman or a member of a Committee is brought within the purview of this Act implies that the office concerned must necessarily be regarded as an office of profit, but for the exclusion under the clause by the legislature, the holder of such office could not have been eligible for being chosen as member of the legislature. The object of this provision is to grant exemption to holders of office of certain description and the provision in substance is that they will enjoy the exemption even though otherwise they might be regarded as holders of offices of profit. A conjoint reading of Section 2(a), 2(b), and 3(d) together with its proviso of the Karnataka legislature (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1956 unequivocally supports our conclusion earlier that the post of Chairman of a Commission is an office of profit and in the case in hand, in view of the Government order dated 24.5.2000, the remuneration which said Vatal Nagaraj was getting cannot be held to be compensatory allowance within the ambit of Section 2(b) of the Act, and therefore, he was holder of an office of profit and consequently the disqualification attached under Article 191 of the Constitution would apply. (Para 5)
       In the aforesaid premises, we have no hesitation in coming to the conclusion that the respondent Vatal Nagaraj was holder of an office of profit and, therefore, his nomination had rightly been rejected and the High Court committed error in holding that it was an improper rejection. Necessarily, therefore, the election of the elected candidates could not have been held to be null and void. We, therefore, set aside the impugned judgment of the High Court of Karnataka and allow this appeal and hold that the appellants were duly elected to the Karnataka Legislative Council and their election cannot be held to be null and void. (Para 7)

JUDGMENT

Pattanaik, J.-These three appeals are directed against one and the same Judgment of the Karnataka High Court. An Election Petition was filed under Section 81 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, challenging the election of the present appellants as Members of the Karnataka Legislative Council and for declaring the said election as null and void inter alia on the ground that the nomination of Vatal Nagaraj, respondent No. 1 had been improperly rejected. Said Vatal Nagaraj was an ex M.L.A. and had been appointed as a One Man Commission by the Government of Karnataka by Order dated 18.4.2000 to study the problems of the Kannadigas in the Border areas of Kerala, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Goa and Tamil Nadu. By a subsequent order, the Chairman of the Commission was accorded the status of a Minister of Cabinet rank and thereafter by a Government Order dated 24.5.2000, for defraying the expenses of pay and day to day expenditure of the Chairman of the Commission, a sum of Rs. 5 lacs was provided in the Budget estimate for the year 2000-2001. When election to the Karnataka Legislative Council was held for filling up 11 vacancies and said Vatal Nagaraj filed his nomination paper, on an objection being filed for accepting the nomination, the Returning Officer took up the scrutiny and rejected the nomination of said Vatal Nagaraj on a finding that he was holding an office of profit and as such was disqualified from being elected. Said Nagaraj, therefore, filed the election petition, alleging inter alia that his nomination has been improperly rejected within the ambit of Section 100(1)(c) of the Representation of the People Act and, therefore, the election of all the Members must be declared void. By the impugned Judgment, the High Court having come to the conclusion that the post of Chairman of the Commission which said Nagaraj was holding, cannot be held to be an office and, therefore, the Returning Officer illegally rejected the nomination paper of said Shri Nagaraj. The High Court ultimately held that the position held by Nagaraj, not being an office much less an office of profit, did not incur any disqualification under Article 191 of the Constitution and consequently, rejection of his nomination was improper. The High Court ultimately having allowed the election petition and declaring the election of the elected candidates to the Karnataka Legislative Council to be null and void and further directing the Returning Officer to accept the nomination of Nagaraj and proceed with the election in accordance with law, the present appeals have been preferred.

2. Mr. Shanti Bhushan and Mr. Venugopal, the learned senior counsel appearing for appellants in two different appeals, and Mr. Javali, learned senior counsel appearing for the appellant in third appeal contended, that having regard to the circumstances under which the post of One Man Commission was created and an ex M.L.A. was appointed to that post, and having regard to the fact that the government sanctioned money to defray the expenses of the pay and other allowances of the said Commission, the conclusion is irresistible that the post of One Man Commission was an office of profit and, therefore, the Returning Officer rightly rejected the nomination of respondent Vatal Nagaraj and the High Court committed error in holding that the post does not constitute an office much less an office of profit. In support of this contention reliance was placed on the decisions of this Court in Mahadeo vs. Shantibhai & Ors. - (1969) 2 SCR 422, Kanta Kathuria vs. Manak Chand Surana - (1970) 2 SCR 835 and Shibu Soren vs. Dayanand Sahay and Others - (2001) 7 SCC 425. Mr. Bobde, the learned senior counsel appearing for respondent No. 1, on the other hand contended, that the word office not having been defined either in the Constitution or in the Representation of People Act, and the definition given to the said expression by Justice Rowlatt in the case of Great Western Railway C

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2002 Supreme(SC) 104

VERY IMPORTANT POINT The post of One Man Commission constituted by the Government of Karnataka to study the problems of Kannadigas in the boarder areas is an office of profit.

Cases Referred (7)

VERY IMPORTANT POINT
The post of One Man Commission constituted by the Government of Karnataka to study the problems of Kannadigas in the boarder areas is an office of profit.