JUDGMENT

KRISHNA IYER, J.:—The first two civil appeals based on admitted, abbreviated facts, revolving round the election of the President of the Bassein Council (and the third raises virtually the samepoint but refers to the Bhibandi Municipal Council) under the Maharashtra Municipalities Act, 1965 (the Municipal Act, for short) has led to long andintricate argument, thanks partly to the haziness and incongruity of the statutory provisions, and the hard jobof harmonizing and illumining which, by interpretative effort, has drained us of our faith in the blessings of simplicity, certainty and consistency in Indian codified law. We may pardonably, but hopefully, permit ourselves by wayof constructive criticism of perfunctory codification - a proliferating source of litigation- that it was once thought.

"With a Code, all our troubles and cares would, magically vanish. The law, codified, would become stable, predictable and certain. The rules of law, purified, would be accessible to, and understood by, not only the legal establishment of bench and bar but the people as well."

Professor Grant E. Gilmore comments :

"The law, codified, has proved to be quite as unstable, unpredictable, and u