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1981 Supreme(AP) 208
Andhra Pradesh High Court
Judges : PUNNAIAH
B.Churchil Babu - Appellant
Versus
Government Of A.P., represented by the Secretary, Municipal Administration, Secretariat Buildings, Hyderabad - Respondent
W.P. No. 5634/81
Decided On : 09-04-81
Advocates Appeared :
Mr. G. V. L. Narasimha Rao,Mr. D. Venkat Ram,Mr. C. Padmanabha Reddy
Headnote:AP MUNICIPALITIES ACT, Sees 3(1) (a) and 11-B(2) and [3] Voters registered in an area of the Municipality which was formed earlier to a contiguous Gram Panchayat where also the same Voters were registered - The voters cannot be prohibited in exercising their franchise both in the Municipality and the Gram Panchayat
HELD Section 11-B [2] and [3] of the Municipalities Act prohibit a voter from registering his name in the electoral roll for more than one Municipality and from registering his name in the electoral roll for any Municipality more than once In this case since the 800 Voters of 14th Ward (of the Municipality) are also voters of ward Nos 9 to 12 of a Panchayat but not of another Municipality, it is not hit by Sec 11-B[2] Since the said voters of the 14th Ward of the Municipality are the voters of Ward Nos 9 to 12 of the Panchayat but not of another ward of the same Municipality, the electoral roll of the 14th ward of the Municipality does note come within the mischief of Sec11-B [3] There is no provision in the Municipality Act to prohibit a person from registering his name in the electoral roll of a ward of Municipality and in a Ward of the Panchayat Therefore the electoral roll of 14th Ward of the Municipality cannot be said 10 be Illegal merely because 800 names of the voters of this ward are registered in the electoral rolls of Ward Nos 9 to 12 of the Panchayat
( 1 ) THE petitioners seek for the issuance of a writ of Mandamus declaring the electoral roll of the 14th ward of Narasaraopet Municipality as illegal and void and the same is, therefore, be set aside.
( 2 ) NARASARAOPET Municipality was constituted in the year 1915. The last election for (he council took place in 1959. Narasaraopet Municipality is surrounded by Villages on all sides within a short distance of two to three K. Ms. Lingamguntla is one such village on the western side of Narasaraopet on the way to Rompicherla. Lingamguntla was having gram Panchayat with 12 wards. The petitioners contend that ward Nos 9, 10, 11 and 12 are stretching to the close proximity of Narasaraopet Municipal limits due to growth of population and houses, while the 14th ward of Narasaraopet Municipality is extending in the direction of Lingamguntla village leaving a very short distance between the two places. They also contend that in case any survey of area is conducted it would be seen that these places are one and the same. They also contend that the roads, street lights in ward Nos. 9, 10, 11 and 12 are under the management of gram Panchayat of Lingamguntla and the Panchayat is collecting property tax and other taxes, licence fees etc. , from the residents of these wards. They therefore, contend that the houses and the residents of the ward Nos 9 to 12 are within the jurisdiction of the Gram Panchayat of Lingamguntla. In these four wards of Lingamguntla Gram Panchayat there are about 3000 houses. Though the Special Officer, Narasaraopet Municipality has no jurisdiction over the Gram Panchayat Lingamguntla or over these four wards of Lingamguntla, the petitioners contend that he is attempting to provide all amenities for the residents of these four wards ignoring the statutory provisions of the Municipalities Act. The Panchayat elections for the Lingamguntla village were held in June, 1981. and the elections for the Narasaraopet Municipality were also notified, Electcral rolls of the gram Panchayat were prepared and carried out as laid down under Section 14 (1) of the Andhra Pradesh Gram Panchayats Act. The petitioners contend that the electoral rolls for the Municipality were prepared and in doing so the Special Officer added as many names in each of the houses in ward Nos. 14 and 15 of the Municipal electoral rolls as he could, though many of them are not the residents of ward Nos. 14 and 15 that in the recent elections held for the Lingamguntla Panchayat, the residents of ward Nos. 9, 10, 11 and 12 exercised their franchise in accordance with the electoral rolls prepared and published under the Gram Panchayats Act, and that the names of 800 persons belonging to ward Nos. 9 to 12 of lingamguntla, who exercised their franchise in the recent elections of Panchayat, are also included in the electoral rolls of ward No. 14 of Narasaraopet municipality. The petitioners further contend that inasmuch as 800 names of ward Nos. 9, 10, 11 and 12 of Lingamguntla Village were included in the electoral rolls prepared for the 14th ward of Narasaraopet Municipality, the electoral rolls for ward No. 14 of Natasaraopet Municipality were prepared against the rules and hence the election to be conducted for 14th ward on the basis of such illegal electoral rolls becomes illegal. The petitioners, therefore, filed the writ petition seeking for a declaration of the electoral rolls for 14th ward of Narasaraopet Municipality as illegal and void.
( 3 ) OPPOSING the writ petition, the 5th respondent Special Officer- cum-Commissioner of Narasaraopet Municipality filed the counter. In the counter he states that the Notification for the constitution of the Narasaraopet municipality was issued in the year 1915 and it clearly shows the specific boundaries mentioned in the plan attached to the notification. Plan and the Notification make it clear that a portion of Lingamguntla agraharam forms part of Narasaraopet Municipality and that part was included in th
