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1963 Supreme(Raj) 175

Rajasthan High Court
Dave, Actg. C.J. & Shinghal, J.
Keshav Dev - Appellant
Versus
Radhey Shyam - Respondents
D.B. Special Appeal No. 20 of 1962
Decided On : August 26, 1963

Advocates Appeared:
S.N. Prosad and Sagarmal Mehta, for Keshav Dev; R.S. Purohit for Radhey Shyam; M.G. Bhandari, for Roop Singh; A.L. Mehta, for Fakir Mohammed

Headnote:(a) Panchayat and Nyay Panchayats Election Rules, RR. 78 and 83—Munsif or Civil Judge not civil Court Subordinate to District Judge.(b) Jurisdiction—Consent — Election tribunal having no jurisdiction— Decision cannot be valid on ground of consent.

       

DAVE, Actg. C.J.—The two appeals noted above are directed against two different orders of a learned single Judge of this Court dated August 31, 1962 and Sept. 18, 1962, respectively, passed in two different writ applications under Art. 226 of the Constitution of India, but since common questions of law are involved in both of them they are disposed of together.

2. Before dealing with the questions of law we think it proper to narrate, in brief, the facts of both the cases.

3. In Appeal No. 20, the general election of the Bichpuri (Gujran) Panchayat, tehsil Khandar, district Sawai Madhopur, was held on December 18, 1960. The petitioner Keshavdev contested the election of Sarpanch against Radhey Shyam respondent No.l. The petitioner was elected declared having scored a larger number of votes as against his opponent. Respondent No. 1 thereafter filed an election petition under R. 78 of the Rajasthan Panchayat and Nyaya Panchayat Election Rules, 1960, which will hereinafter be referred as the Rules, before a Tribunal viz, Munsif Sawai Madhopur. The hearing of the said petition proceeded before the Tribunal for a long time. Both the parties concluded their evidence and only arguments remained to be heard. On the 4th of January, 1962, however, the Munsiff submitted the record to the District Judge, Bharatpur, for transferring the case to some other tribunal on the ground that certain facts had come to his personal knowledge and so he "felt himself handicapped in deciding the case". On January 9, 1962, the learned District Judge, Bharatpur, heard the parties and transferred the case to the court of Munsif, Gangapur. The parties were directed to appear before the transferee court on February 5, 1962. It may be noted here that the petitioner did not raise any objection about the transfer of the case, before the District Judge. When the election petition came up for hearing before the Munsif, Gangapur, the petitioner presented an application on April 7, 1962, challenging the jurisdiction of that Tribunal to entertain and hear the application. This objection was turned down on the same day with the observation that the case was transferred to the Tribunal by the District Judge and that if the petitioner felt aggrieved, he was free to move the High Court. Eventually, the Tribunal decided the case on August 7, 1962, against the petitioner. In other words, the election petition was allowed and respondent No. 1 Radhey Shyam was declared elected. Aggrieved by this order dated August 7, 1962, the petitioner filed a writ petition which came for hearing before a learned single Judge of this Court on 31.8.1962. It was urged on behalf of the petitioner before the learned Judge that the Munsif, Gangapur, had no jurisdiction to hear and decide the election petition because the place of headquarters of the Panchayat or the Nyaya Panchayat was not situated within his jurisdiction. This contention was repelled with the observation that if the petitioner thought that Munsif, Gangapur, had no jurisdiction to try the case he ought to have filed a writ petition in the case. It was further observed that the decision of the Tribunal having gone against the petitioner, the learned Judge was not willing to entertain the writ application especially when it was also found that the election petition was rightly allowed on merits.

4. In appeal No. 23, the election for the office of the Sarpanch of Panchayat, Salada, was held on December 6, 1960. The petitioner Roop Singh and the respondents Nos. 2 and 3 Fakir Mohammed and Bhim Singh contested the said election and the petitioner was declared elected to the office. Thereafter, the respondent No. 2 Fakir Mohammed filed an election petition under rule 78 of the Rules in the court of Munsif Saloombar. After the bulk of evidence was recorded, the respondent N. 2 presented an application under sec. 24 C.P.C. in the court of the District Judge, Udaipur, requesting it to transfer the case from the Tribunal of Munsif Saloomba







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