The State Government has a statutory duty to hold elections to local self-government bodies and the failure to do so is a violation of the citizens' fundamental right to local self-government.

P.D. Desai, C.J (Oral).—The petitioners are residents of Shimla and they are registered as voters in the electoral rolls of the Shimla Assembly Constituency. The first petitioner was also an elected member of the Shimla Municipal Committee (hereinafter to be referred to as "the Municipal Committee") from I960 to 1966.

2. The Local Self Government in the town of Shimla has passed through several vicissitudes. The last general election to the Municipal Committee was held some time in 1960 under the provisions of the Punjab Municipal Act, 1911 (hereinafter to be referred to as the "Punjab Act") which was then applicable to the local area declared to be the Municipality of Shimla. By a notification dated May 16, 1966, which was published in the Punjab Government Gazette (Extraordinary) dated May 17, 1966, the Governor of Punjab superseded the Municipal Committee with immediate effect in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 238 of the Punjab Act and directed that all powers and duties of the Municipal Committee be exercised and performed by an Administrator until the Committee was reconstituted. The validity of the said notification was challenged in Civil Writ Petitions Nos. 42 and 44 of 1967, which came to be heard and decided by a Full Bench of three Judges of the Delhi High Court (Himachal Bench) The decision of the Full Bench is reported in Suraj Parkash v. State of Punjab and others [1967 (3) Delhi Law Times 393]. The Full Bench quashed the impugned notification but reserved to the State Government the right to proceed to supersede the Municipal Committee, if it was so advised, in accordance with law. I.D. Dua, J., speaking for the Full Bench, made the following pertinent observations in the pen-ultimate paragraph of the judgment (at page 412) :— "...It is in the end hoped that speedy and effective steps would be taken for holding fresh elections so that the electorates of Simla are not deprived, for a day longer than is absolutely necessary, of the exercise of their cherished democratic right or franchise to elect their representatives to manage their own local affairs. Arbitrarily depriving them of this right, seems to me to be a grave violation of their basic statutory right, tolerated only in the States which pay mere lip homage to democracy. Such violations in this Republic are an affront to the wisdom and labour of the framers of our Constitution. Mere drafting of Constitution, if may be remembered, does not make the State democratic. It is the people who have to exert themselves to enforce the Constitution and to adopt the principles enshrined therein in their day-today life. To this end, the Government departments, the local bodies as well as every patriotic citizen must strive, if we have to survive as a free democratic notion. Before closing, I should point out the truism that it is the close watch full eye of the public that makes both the Administrator and the statement virtuous. The word "public" is not to be confused with the few selfish opportunists, but it means the men of integrity and intelligence interested in having an honest and efficient administrative set up. It is unnecessary to say anything more in this context." Be it stated that the judgment in Suraj Prakash’s case was delivered on June 16, 1967. No election to the Municipal Committee was, however, held after the decision was rendered. The Municipal government appears to have been entrusted once again to the old Municipal Committee which seems to have continued to hold office till June 27, 1969, that is, for a period of two years thereafter.

3. The Himachal Pradesh Municipal Act, 1968 (hereinafter to be refer-red to as the "Himachal Act) was enacted by the Legislative Assembly of Himachal Pradesh and it came into force on and which effect from February 3, 1969. Section 284 of the said Act, inter alia, repealed the Punjab Act as in force in the territories transferred to Himachal Pradesh under Section 5 of the Punjab Re organisation Act