Rajasthan High Court
Honble B.S. CHAUHAN, J.
Rameshwari Divi Mewara - Appellant
Versus
State of Rajasthan and others - Respondents
S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 3486 of 1998
Decided On : November 09, 1998
(2). The facts and circumstances giving rise to this case are that the petitioner was elected as the Chair-person of the Municipal Board, Asind on 28.8.1995. Some irregularities were pointed out in allotment of a shop No.15 in favour of one Shri Gautam Chand Jain, vide order dated 4.7.97, by the petitioner and proceedings un- der Section 63 of the Rajasthan Municipalities Act, 1959 (hereinafter referred as ``the Act) were initiated. Petitioner was put under suspension and judicial enquiry commenced. Allegations and counter-allegations regarding allotment of the said shop had been that it was not located in the main market, no person was willing to have it on rent. One Shri Gautam Chand Jain applied for the allotment of the said shop vide application dated 4.7.96, contained in Annexure R.19, on which the petitioner passed the order on the same day directing the Executive Officer to do the needful for allotment of the shop in his favour and petitioner passed the order on the next day to accept the rent. A preliminary enquiry was held against the petitioner. She was served with a Notice dated 2.4.98 (Annexure P.8) to show cause why the proceedings under Section 63 of the Rajasthan Municipalities Act, 1959 (hereinafter referred as ``the Act) be not initiated against her as she had hatched a conspiracy to allot the said shop to Mr. Gautam Chand Jain on the rent of Rs. 100/- p.m. while the shop was worth Rs. one lac and it could have fetched the rent upto Rs.250/- per month and the said allotment had been made in violation of the Rules.
(3). Petitioner filed reply to the show cause notice. However, after considering it, the respondents passed the order of suspension dated 18.4.98 (Annexure P.9) and the judicial enquiry commenced. Petitioner was served with the Charge-sheet (Annexure P.10) on the allegations, referred to above. It was stated in that letter that alongwith the charge-sheet, the Statement of Allegations was, also, annexed but petitioner did not receive the said Statement. Subsequent events are put in chronological order as under:-
14.9.98: Petitioner filed an application before Enquiry Officer to issue a copy of the complaint, on the basis of which the charge-sheet was served; preliminary enquiry report, list of witnesses and the copy of the report that the premises in question was capable to fetch more rent.
24.9.98: Application dated 14.9.1998 was rejected by the Enquiry Officer unceremoniously.
26.9.98: Petitioner filed reply to the charge-sheet (Annexure P.16) wherein she again stated that she could not file effective reply to the charge-sheet for want of documents referred to above.
26.9.98: Department examined three witnesses, viz., Satya Narain- PW.1, Bhanwar Lal PW 2 and Sabir Mohammed-PW3, to support its case.
26.9.98: Petitioner was directed to adduce evidence in her defence on 30.9.98.
30.9.98: Petitioner preferred an application for short adjournment as she was unable to attend the enquiry for the reason that she was having ``Pooja at her residence on that date. In support of her application, she also filed the printed invitation card for the occasion.
30.9.98: Enquiry Officer rejected the said application for adjournment.
30.9.98: Arguments of both side counsel were concluded.
30.9.98: Enquiry Officer submitted its report.
07.10.98: The State Government passed the impugned order removing the petitioner from the post of the Chair-person and declaring her dis-qualified for a period of five years to contest any election of the Municipal Board.
Being aggrieved and dissatisfied, the pet
14. State of West Bengal vs. Atul Krishna Shaw (1991 (Suppl.) 1 SCC 414)
17. Institute of Chartered Accountants of India vs. L.K. Ratna and others (1986 (4) SCC 537)
19. Suneeta Ramchandra vs. State of Madras (1986 (2) SCC 348)
21. Sultana Begum vs. Premchandra Jain (1997 (1) SCC 373)
24. Institute of Chartered Accountants of India vs. Price Water House and another (1997 (6) SCC 312)
26. S.B.B.J. vs. Prabhu Dayal Grover (1995 (6) SCC 279)
36 High Court of Punjab & Haryana vs. Amreek Singh (1995 (Suppl.) 1 SCC 321).–Relied on.
39. State Bank of Patiala vs. S.K. Sharma (1996 (3) SCC 364)
40. Major G.S. Sodhi vs. Union of India (1991 (2) SCC 382)
41. S.K. Singh vs. Central Bank of India (1996 (6) SCC 415)
43. C. Chhanga Reddy vs. State of Andhra Pradesh (1996 (10) SCC 193)
44. Narshimba Murthy vs. Sushila Bai (1996 (3) SCC 644)
45. Gurmail Singh vs. State of Punjab (1991 (1) SCC 189)
47. Re: vs. Vinay Chand Mishra (1995 (2) SCC 584).
48. D.K. Basu vs. State of West Bengal (1997 (1) SCC 416)
49. Panchugopal vs. Umesh Chandra Goswami (1997 (4) SCC 713)
50. Gaziabad Development Authority vs. Delhi Auto General Finance Ltd. (1994 (4) SCC 42)
1. Rawat Dan vs. State of Rajasthan and others (1975 RLW 116)
2. Nandram Hunatram Calcutta vs. Union of India and others (A.I.R. 1966 SC 1922)
3. State of Madras vs. K.R. Sriniwasan (A.I.R. 1966 SC 1827)
4. Krishna Chandra vs. Union of India and others (A.I.R. 1974 SC 1589)
7. Chaina Ram vs. State of Rajashthan (1973 RLW 36)
10. Shilekha Vidyarthi vs. State of U.P. and others (A.I.R. 1991 SC 537)
15. S.N. Mukherji vs. Union of India (A.I.R. 1990 SC 1984)
16. Krishna Swamy vs. Union of India (A.I.R. 1993 SC 1407)
20. Chhunnibhai Deajibhai vs. Narain Rao and another (A.I.R. 1965 SC 1457)
22. State of Bihar vs. Bharat Distillary and others (A.I.R. 1997 SC 1511)
25. Ram Kumar vs. State of Haryana (A.I.R. 1987 SC 2043)
27. State of Madhya Pradesh vs. Chintamani Sadashiv Waishampayan (A.I.R. 1961 SC 1623)
28. Union of India vs. T.R. Verma (A.I.R. 1957 SC 882)
29. Khem Chand vs. Union of India (A.I.R. 1958 SC 300)
30. Major U.R. Bhatt vs. Union of India and others (A.I.R. 1962 SC 1344)
31. State of Uttar Pradesh vs. Mohmmed Sharif (A.I.R. 1982 SC 937)
32. Kashinath Dixit vs. Union of India and others (A.I.R. 1986 SC 2118)
33. State of Punjab vs. Bhagat Ram (A.I.R. 1974 SC 2335)
34. State of Assam vs. Mahendra Kumar Das (A.I.R. 1970 SC 1255).–Relied on.
35. Chandrama Tiwari vs. Union of India (A.I.R. 1988 SC 117).–Relied on.
37. State of U.P. vs. Shatrughan Lal and another (1998 (6) JT 55).–Relied on.
42. Monika Jain vs. State of Rajasthan (1998 (1) RLW 71)
51. Delhi Transport Corporation vs. D.T.C. Mazdoor Congress (A.I.R. 1991 SC 101)
52. Haji T.M. Hasan Rowther vs. Kerla Financial Corporation (A.I.R. 1988 SC 157)
53. Sirsi Municipality vs. Cocila Crom Fransis Tellis (A.I.R. 1973 SC 855).
55. Union of India vs. H.C. Goel (A.I.R. 1964 SC 364)
57. Surya Prakash Gothwal vs. State of Rajasthan and others (1980 WLN 542)
59. State of Assam and another vs. Bimal Kumar Pandit (A.I.R. 1963 SC 1612)
Login now and unlock free premium legal research
Login to SupremeToday AI and access free legal analysis, AI highlights, and smart tools.
Login
now!
India’s Legal research and Law Firm App, Download now!
Copyright © 2023 Vikas Info Solution Pvt Ltd. All Rights Reserved.