Gujarat High Court
Judgename :J.M.SHELAT
CHIMANLAL BHOGILAL SHAH - Appellant
Versus
PANDURAO BHAILAL DESAI - Respondent
Civil Revision 528 of 1960
Decided On : 03/09/1961
Evidence Act - Section 36 – Sought to be declared a tout - Voted for the resolution had no opportunity - Drastic and unusual nature - Act creates a special jurisdiction for several authorities mentioned in sub-section - Provisions of section 36 are undoubtedly of a drastic and unusual nature and since such an inquiry is likely to affect both prestige and livelihood of a person sought to be declared a tout it has to be conducted strictly in accordance with the procedure laid down in that section - Section 36 and explanation annexed thereto lay down three essential conditions which if complied would make resolution of Association admissible as evidence of general repute of person against whom inquiry is - These here conditions are that meeting at which resolution is passed must be meeting of persons entitled to practice as legal practitioners (2) meeting must be a specially convened meeting for purpose of declaring a person to be a tout vand (3) the resolution passed at such a meeting declaring a person to be a tout must be one by a majority of legal practitioners present at meeting Held, There provisions of section 36 and explanation irrespective of fact whether it is passed either before or after proceedings are commenced it would be evidence of general repute against person against whom such proceedings are contention that resolution cannot be regarded as one passed at a specially convened meeting as it was passed after proceedings in these inquiries were initiated by learned Sessions Judge is concerned there is nothing in sec - 36 and explanation annexed thereto to indicate that a resolution passed at a specially convened meeting cannot become evidence of general repute against petitioners unless it was passed before proceedings were intiated by learned Sessions Judge or unless such resolution became basis of such proceedings - court find nothing in sec - 36 or explanation to justify contention that passing of such a resolution is a condition precedent to proceedings against petitioners being initiated by learned Sessions Judgeis also nothing either in section or explanation to justify view that it is only that resolution which is passed before proceedings are initiated that can be evidence of general repute against the petitioner – What explanation to section 36 (1) does is to enact a special rule of evidence by making resolution evidence of general repute which but for explanation would not be evidence under Evidence Act - Explanation does not however state or require that such - Petitions dismissed
( 1 ) * * * * Both Mr. Pathak and Mr. C. C. Patel appearing for the two petitioners argued that the action taken by the learned Sessions Judge was on the report of the President of the Association which report as the Rojnama indicates was made on the 30th of June 1959. They argued that that report was on the basis of the resolution passed at the meeting of the 25 of June 1959. They contended that that meeting was not a specially convened meeting as required by the explanation to section 36 of the Act as the notice dated the 18th of June 1959 convening that meeting did not set out the list of persons against whom action was proposed to be taken. It was contended that in the absence of such a list in that notice the members who were present at the meeting and who voted for the resolution had no opportunity to consider and if necessary to make their own inquiries about the person or persons whether he was a tout or not before such a member voted at the meeting.
( 2 ) SECTION 36 of the Act creates a special jurisdiction for the several authorities mentioned in sub-section (1 ). The provisions of section 36 are undoubtedly of a drastic and unusual nature and since such an inquiry is likely to affect both the prestige and the livelihood of a person sought to be declared a tout it has to be conducted strictly in accordance with the procedure laid down in that section. Section 36 and the explanation annexed thereto lay down three essential conditions which if complied would make the resolution of the Association admissible as evidence of general repute of the person against whom the inquiry is held. These three conditions are (1) that the meeting at which the resolution is passed must be the meeting of persons entitled to practice as legal practitioners; (2) the meeting must be a specially convened meeting for the purpose of declaring a person to be a tout; and (3) the resolution passed at such a meeting declaring a person to be a tout must be one by a majority of the legal practitioners present at the meeting.
( 3 ) SO far as the conditions (1) and (3) are concerned no objection is raised on behalf of the petitioners. The objection is with regard to condition No. 2. Mr. Pathak and Mr. Patel complained that the list made by the committee appointed by the Association of persons to be declared as touts was not annexed to the notice dated the 18th of June 1958; nor was the list annexed to the agenda of the meeting which agenda was set out at the foot of the notice dated 18th June. It was therefore contended that the meeting which passed the resolution of the 25th of June 1959 cannot be said to be specially convened for the purpose of declaring a certain or a named person or persons to be tout or touts. Reliance was placed upon two decisions one of Sind and the other of Bombay. In Acher Khuda Baksh v. Bar Association Karachi A. I. R. 1937 Sind 4 it was held that the words any person appearing first in the explanation to section 36 mean any named person or any specified person and therefore the meeting of the Bar Association must be specifically concerned for the purpose of declaring any person or persons whose name or names are before the meeting when it is convened to be or not to be a tout. The learned Judges therefore observed that to hold otherwise would be to allow surprises to be sprung upon the meeting and for persons to be declared touts without due warning to the members of the Association who if they had notice might have made inquiries quite apart from the fact that members absent might have been present if they had notice of the names which were to be brought before the meeting. It appears from the facts stated in that decision that one Achar Khuda Baksh who was to be declared a tout by the learned Additional Judicial Commissioner Karachi was not named amongst persons who were to be considered touts in the notices convening the meeting and that while certain names were before the meeting when it met the name of
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