ORDER

1. Special leave granted.

2. The question that falls for consideration in this appeal is whether the appellant who was elected as a member of the Senate of Pune University (hereinafter referred to as "the University"), as a representative of the management of affiliated colleges or recognised institutions under Section 25(2)(m) of the Maharashtra Universities Act, 1994 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act") has ceased to be a member of the Senate by virtue of his having been replaced as its representative by the management of the institution represented by him on the date of the election. This question involves the interpretation of Section 43 of the Act which reads as under :

"43. Cessation of membership. - Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act or the statutes made thereunder, where a person elected, nominated, appointed or co-opted as an officer of University or a member of any of the authorities or bodies of the University by virtue of his being eligible to be so elected, nominated, appointed or co-opted as such an officer or a member under any of the categories of officers or members specified by or under the relevant provisions of this Act in relation to such office, authority or body, he shall cease to be such an officer of the University or a member of such an authority or a body as soon as he ceases to belong to such category and shall be deemed to have vacated his office as such officer or member."

3. The facts, briefly stated, are as under :

By resolution dated 28-8-1994, the appellant was nominated as its representative by the Nasik District Maratha Vidya Prasarak Samaj (hereinafter referred to as "the Vidya Prasarak Samaj"), a recognised institution. On 28-12-1994, he was elected as a member of the Senate by the electoral college consisting of the representatives of the managements of affiliated colleges and recognised institutions under Section 25(2)(m) of the Act. Subsequently, the appellant was also nominated as their representative by the managements of two other institutions, namely, Karmaveer Kakasaheb Wagh Education Society and Shri Gurudev Shikshan Prasarak Mandal and by letters dated 4-7-1997 and 17-6-1997 respectively, the said institutions informed the Registrar of the University about the appellant having been nominated as their representative. The Executive Committee of the Vidya Prasarak Samaj adopted a resolution dated 13-6-1997 whereby, instead of the appellant, Shri Prataprao Narayan Sonaware was nominated as the representative of the management of the Vidya Prasarak Samaj and a communication to that effect was sent by the Education Officer, Vidya Prasarak Samaj to the Registrar of the University on 14-7-1997. By his letter dated 23-7-1997, the Officiating Registrar of the University informed the appellant that since he had ceased to be the representative of the Vidya Prasarak Samaj, his membership of all the bodies of the University, including the Senate, has come to a termination. Feeling aggrieved by the said termination of his membership of the Senate, the appellant filed a writ petition [Writ Petition No. 23310 (sic) of 1997 in the Bombay High Court which was dismissed by the impugned judgment. Hence this appeal.

4. A perusal of Section 43 of the Act shows that a person who has been elected, nominated, appointed or co-opted as a member of any of the authorities or bodies of the University by virtue of his being eligible to be so elected, nominated, appointed or co-opted as such member under any of the categories of the officers specified by or under the relevant provisions of the Act, shall be deemed to have vacated his office as such member as soon as he has ceased to belong to such category. The question is what is meant by the expression "category" in Section 43. Shri Ranjit Kumar, the learned counsel appearing for the appellant, has urged that the expression "category" means the class of persons from which a person is elected, nominated, appointed or co-opted under the parti