The decision of the majority of the Municipal Council is binding, and dissenting members cannot challenge the decision in court.

JUDGMENT :

The Thrissur Corporation owns a building in which a tourist home was conducted under the name “Bini Tourist Home”. The licensee who was conducting the said tourist home surrendered the building in 2020, and thereafter, it has not been functioning till date. The attempts of the Corporation to identify a licensee for running the said tourist home has not fructified till date. Finally, the attempts found fruition when Sri. Janeesh - the writ petitioner in W.P(C) No.3668 of 2023, became the highest amongst five tenderers. However, after the said person was identified as a prospective licensee, disputes arose, provoking an alleged raucous at the meeting of the Corporation Council, resulting in these three writ petitions.

2. W.P.(C) No.3668 of 2023 is filed by Sri. Janeesh, while W.P.(C) No.5469 of 2023 and W.P.(C) No.27414 of 2023 are filed by some of the Councillors of the Thrissur Municipal Corporation.

3. While Sri. Janeesh has sought directions for execution of the agreement granting him the license to run the tourist home pursuant to the decision of the Corporation Council on 30.01.2023, a few councillors have challenged the said resolution of the Council and have also sought a direction not to execute the agreement pursuant to such a decision.

4. Sri. Janeesh pleaded in his writ petition that the tender submitted by him, pursuant to a public invitation, was accepted as he became the highest bidder to run the Bini Tourist Home. However, due to various disputes, the Secretary of the Corporation was not executing the agreement despite the Council decision of 30.01.2023.

5. Few of the Councillors of the Corporation, which include the writ petitioners in two of the writ petitions mentioned in the earlier paragraph, apart from the additional third respondent in W.P.(C) No.3668 of 2023, alleged that no decision was taken on 30.01.2023 and that there was neither any discussion nor any voting on the particular agenda at the said meeting.

6. According to the Councillors, the Mayor of the Corporation had selected Sri. Janeesh arbitrarily, contrary to the mandate of the Statute and even permitted him to deposit the security deposit without the decision of the Council. It is alleged that after proceeding to grant the license to Sri. Janeesh, a decision was seemingly created to have been taken at the Council meeting. The Councillors allege that records have been falsely prepared to show that a resolution was passed on 30.01.2023 ratifying the decision of the Mayor to award the license to Sri. Janeesh, who had even caused damage to the tourist home in the meantime. They also pleaded that out of the total of 54 Councillors, 30 of them had dissented at the meeting, and therefore, the decision could not have been passed.

7. I have heard Sri.M.R.Dhanil, the learned counsel for the petitioner, Sri.Santhosh P. Poduval, the learned Standing Counsel for the Thrissur Corporation, Sri.G.Sreekumar Chelur and Sri.Anand Kalyanakrishnan, learned counsel for the Councillors.

8. A brief reference to certain relevant facts is essential. Bini Tourist Home, situated at the heart of Thrissur, belongs to the Corporation. From mid-1990s till 30.09.2020, Smt. Omana Asokan was the licensee running the tourist home, on which date she surrendered the building. Thereafter, attempts to identify a licensee through public auction failed. Auctions were conducted five times, i.e., on 12.10.2020, 03.11.2020, 26.02.2021, 15.11.2021 and again on 31.03.2022, but the licensee could not be identified. The selected tenderers either failed to abide by the terms of the tender or were not ready to pay the security deposit, or backed out. Thus, the loss to the Corporation was adding up and turning out to be substantial. The need to identify a licensee, therefore, became a necessity.

9. While so, on 16.09.2022, instead of a public auction, tenders were invited from the public to run the tourist home. Five persons submitted their offers, which included the earlier licensee, Smt. Oma