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IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH
M.N. RAO, J.
Rajahmundry (Rural) Mandal Praja Parishad, represented by its President Menda Somayya - Petitioner;
Versus
The Government of Andhra Pradesh, represented by its Secretary, Housing Municipal Administration & Urban Development Department, Secretariat Buildings, Hyderabad -Respondents.
W.P. No. 14092/87
Decided on : 9-2-1988
Mr. P. Ramachandra Reddy, Advocate for the Petitioner;
Mr. P. Raj agopal Rao For the Respondent
A Mandal Praja Parishad constituted under one statute cannot be extinguished by resorting to the provisions of another statute in the absence of a specific overriding power.
Headnote:
Mandal Praja Parishad - Extinction - Procedure - A.P. Mandala Praja Parishads, Zilla Praja Parishads and Zilla Pranalika Abhivrudhi Mandals Act, 1986 (Act 31 of 1986) - A.P. Municipalities Act, 1965 Sec. 3(1) - A Mandala Praja Parishad constituted under the provisions of Act 31 of 1986 cannot be extinguished by resorting to the provisions of A.P. Municipalities Act.
Fact of the Case:
The petitioner, President of Rajahmundry (Rural) Mandal Praja Parishad, challenged the G.O. issued by the Government provisionally deciding to include eight Grampanchayats within the limits of Rajahmundry Municipality, which would result in the extinction of the Mandal Praja Parishad.
Finding of the Court:
The court held that a Mandal Praja Parishad constituted under Act 31 of 1986 cannot be extinguished by resorting to the provisions of the Municipalities Act. The action of the Government in issuing the impugned G.O. was clearly unsupportable in law as there was no specific overriding power in the Municipalities Act to extinguish a Mandal Praja Parishad constituted under Act 31 of 1986.
Issues: 1. Whether a Mandal Praja Parishad constituted under Act 31 of 1986 could be extinguished by resorting to the provisions of the Municipalities Act? 2. Whether the petitioner had locus standi to challenge the impugned G.O.
Ratio Decidendi: 1. A Mandal Praja Parishad being a corporate body and a legal person, its legal personality cannot be extinguished in any manner other than what is specifically laid down in the statute by which it was brought into being. 2. In the absence of a specific overriding power, one statute cannot destroy the legal personality of a body created by another statute. 3. There is no provision in the A.P. Municipalities Act empowering the Government or any other authority to extinguish a Mandal Praja Parishad constituted under the Act 31 of 1986.
Final Decision: The writ petition was allowed, the impugned G.O. was set aside, and a mandamus was issued accordingly.
ORDER
A.P. Mandala Praja Parishade, Zilla Pvaja Pariehade, and Zilla Pranalika Abhivrudhi Mandale Act, 1986 (Act 31 of 1986) — A.P. Municipalities Act, 1965 See. 3(1) — Mandal Praja Pariehad oonetituted under the provisions of Act 31 of 1986 cannot be extinguished by resorting to the provieione of A.P. Municipalities Act.
Held :
A Mandala Praja Pari-shad being a corporate body and a legal person, Its legal personality cannot be extinguished in any manner other than what is specifically ]aid down in the statute by which it was brought into being.
(Para 6)
In the present case, admittedly the procedure adopted for proposing to extinguish the Man-dala Praja Pari shad was not under the Act 31 of 1986 by which the Mandala Praja Pari shad was constituted, but only under the provisions of a different enactment A.P. Municipalities Act. The action of the government, therefore, is clearly unsup-portable in law. In the absence of a specific over-riding power, one statute cannot destroy the legal personality of a body created by another statute. There is no provision in the A.P. Municipalities Act empowering the Government or any other authority to extinguish a Mandala Praja Pari shad constituted under the Act 31 of 1986.
(Para 7)
JUDGMET :
1. The petitioner Menda Somayya, President of Rajahmundry (Rural) Mandal Praja Parishad, is seeking a writ of mandamus from this court declaring G.O.Ms. No. 516 M.A., Housing Municipal Administration and Urban Development Department dated 24-4-1987 as illegal, arbitrary and void ab initio. By the impugned G.O. the Government provisionally decided to include eight Grampanchayats viz., (1) Katheru (2) Pidimgoyyi (3) Dowleswaram (4) Kolamuru (5) Palacherla (6) Diwancheruvu (7) Hukumpeta (8) Bommuru in the limits of Rajahmundry Municipality. The Municipal Commissioner, Rajahmundry has already submitted proposals for inclusion of certain villages in the limits of Rajahmundry municipality as resolved by the Municipal Council, Rajahmundry. The Collector by the impugned G.O. was
“requested to see that de-notification of the Gram panchayats shall not be done until final notification is issued by the Government.”
2. The appendix to the impugned G.O., contains the notification issued under Sec. 3(1)(b) of the A.P. Municipalities Act declaring the intention of the Government to include within the limits of Rajahmundry Municipality the local areas of the aforesaid eight Grampanchayats. The residents of the local areas of the Grampanchayats and the tax payers are afforded an opportunity to submit written objections:
“to anything contained in the proposal”
within six weeks from the date of publication of the notification in the Gazette.
3. Rajahmundry (Rural) Mandal Praja Parishad was constituted with nine villages which are all Grampanchayats in accordance with the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Mandala Praja Parishads, Zilla Praja Parishads and Zilla Pranalika Abhivrudhi Mandais Act, 1986 (for short Act 31/86). In the above mentioned nine Grampanchayats namely (1) Davaleswaram, (2) Bommuru, (3) Rajavolu, (4) Hukumpeta, (5) Pidimgoyyi, (6) Katheru, (7) Kolamuru, (8) Venkata Nagaram and (9) Thorredu, the total number of voters is 50,000. The petitioner is the elected President of the Mandala Praja Parishad. His term of office is five years from the date of the first meeting of the Parishad - April, 1987. The impugned G.O., seeks to delete six out of the nine Grampanchayats constituting the Rajahmundry (Rural) Mandal Praja Parishad which would result in depletion of the voters' strength from 50,000 to 5,000. The plea of the petitioner is that the Rajahmundry (Rural) Mandala Praja Parishad which has come into existence through democratic process of election representing 50,000 voters cannot under the law be stamped out of existence by resorting to the method of removing six out of nine villages comprising the Mandala Praja Parishad and destroying the identity of the Parishad altogether. After the removal of the six villages, th
