Judgment

KRISHNA IYER, J.

( 1 ) 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 uncertain - quite as mulishly unruly - as the common law, unmodified, had ever been. The rules of law, purified, have remained the exclusive preserve of the lawyers; the people are still very much in out toils and clutches as they ever were - if not more so. "

(QUOTED by H. R. Hahlo in codifying the Common Law : Protracted Gestation - Mod Law. Rev. January 1975, p. 23, 29-30)

( 2 ) ELECTION law has necessarily to be statutory, but a code can be clear in its scheme and must be such that litigation-proof elections should become the rule. Legislative nemesis, in the shape of ambiguity- induced litigation is a serious political misfortune in the area of elections where laymen go to the polls and peoples verdicts get bogged down in court disputes, attendedwith desperate delays! Some intelligent care at thedrafting stage, some vision of the whole scheme in the farmers, will reduce resort to legal quarrels and appellate spirals so that the time consumed in this Court in resolving conflicts of construction in comparatively less important legislations can be spared for more substantial issues of generalpublic importance.

CIVIL Appeals Nos. 1315 and 1316 of 1975.

( 3 ) ONE Shri Rajani, a candidate for Presidentship of the Bassein Municipal Council and Shri Samant, a voterin that municipal area, made common cause and filed two election petitions challenging the declaration in favour of the appellant. Dr. Parulekar, who was the successful candidate, winning by a largeplurality of votes.

( 4 ) THE resume of relevant facts sufficient to appreciate the contentions may straightway be set out. We are confining, as suggested by counsel, to the twin appeals relating to Bassein since the fate of Bhibandi must followsuit. Three candidates, including the two already mentioned, had filed nomination papers on 21/10/1974 for the presidential election of themunicipal Council. At the time of the scrutiny which took place two days later; no objection was raised to the nomination of Dr. Parulkar by anyone and, on the withdrawal of the third candidate within time, there was a straight fight between the appellant and the first respondent. The poll battle which took place on 17-11-74 found the appellant victor and he was so declared. The frustratedfirst respondent and his supporter, 2nd respondent, challenged the return of the appellant by separate election petitions under Sec. 21 of the Municipal Act. The whole ground on which the petitions were founded wasthat Dr. Parulakar, the returned candidate, was disqualified under Section 16 (1) (g) of the Municipal Act, the lethal vice alleged against himbeing that on the date of nomination he was holding an office of profit under the Government, as he was then, admittedly, working as a penal doctor appointed under the Employees State