Back
1959 Supreme(P&H) 19
PUNJAB & HARYANA HIGH COURT
D.Falshaw and Harbans Singh JJ.
Gurbanta Singh
Versus
Piara Ram Jaggu Ram
First Appeal First Order No. 207 of 1958,
Decided On : JANUARY 30, 1959
Headnote
ELECTION LAW - DISQUALIFICATION - CONTRACT WITH GOVERNMENT - SUBSISTING CONTRACT - SUPPLY OF GOODS - PARTNERSHIP FIRM - DISSOLUTION - SEVERANCE OF CONNECTION - REPRESENTATION OF THE PEOPLE ACT, 1951 - SECTION 7(d), 100(1)(d)(ii).
Fact of the Case:
The appellant, Shri Karam Singh Kirti, was elected as a member of the Punjab Legislative Assembly from the Kartarpur constituency in the 1957 general elections. The election was challenged by two unsuccessful candidates on the ground that Shri Kirti was disqualified from being elected as he had an interest in a contract for the supply of goods to the Punjab Government through a firm, Messrs. G. W. Balkar and Company, in which he was a partner. The Election Tribunal declared the election of Shri Kirti to be void.
Finding of the Court:
The High Court held that the contract between the firm and the Punjab Government was a subsisting contract at the time of the election and that Shri Kirti was a partner in the firm. However, the Court also held that Shri Kirti had effectively severed his connection with the firm on 25th January, 1957, and that he had no interest in the firm thereafter. Therefore, the Court held that Shri Kirti was not disqualified from being elected and set aside the order of the Election Tribunal.
Issues: 1. Whether the contract between the firm and the Punjab Government was a subsisting contract at the time of the election? 2. Whether Shri Kirti was a partner in the firm at the time of the election? 3. Whether Shri Kirti had effectively severed his connection with the firm before the election?
Ratio Decidendi: 1. A contract for the supply of goods to the Government is a subsisting contract until the payment for the goods has been made. 2. A partner in a firm has an interest in the contracts of the firm. 3. A partner can effectively sever his connection with a firm by executing a deed of dissolution and giving intimation of the dissolution to the Registrar of Firms and to the banks where the firm has accounts.
Final Decision: The appeals were allowed and the order of the Election Tribunal was set aside. The election petition was dismissed with costs.
Harbans Singh, J.
1. From the double-member constituency of Kartarpur in district Jullundur Shri Gurbanta Singh for the seat reserved for a scheduled caste candidate and Shri Karam Singh Kirti for the general seat fought election on congress ticket and were declared elected during the last general elections to the Punjab Legislative Assembly. On a petition filed by two of the unsuccessful candidates, namely, Sarvshri Piara Ram and Mota Singh, the election Tribunal, Chandigarh, declared the election of both the successful candidate to be void. Two separate appeals have been filed against this order, one by Shri Gurbanta Singh and the other by Shri Karam Singh Kirti (First Appeals from Orders Nos. 207/E and 211/E of 1958). This order will dispose of both these appeals.
2. In the petition the election of the appellants was challenged on a large number of grounds, but the Election Tribunal only found that so far as Shri Karam Singh Kirti was concerned, he was disqualified from being chosen as a member of the Legislative Assembly of the Punjab State because at the material time there was a subsisting contract for the supply of goods between the Punjab Government and firm G. W. Balkar and Co., in which Shri Karam Singh Kirti had an interest, and also, that Shri Karam Singh Kirti, was guilty of having committed a corrupt practice, because he had attempted to pay a sum of Rs. 200.00 to Kartar Chand, a rival candidate for the reserved seat, as an inducement to him to withdraw from the contest, and it was further held that in making this offer of the bribe Shri Karam Singh Kirti was acting as an agent of Shri Gurbanta Singh and with his consent, and that consequently Shri Gurbanta Singh was also guilty of having committed a corrupt practice and his election was, therefore, void. In the alternative it was found that even if this corrupt practice of bribery was committed by Shri Karam Singh without the consent of Shri Gurbanta Singh, the same was clearly done in his interest and that this had materially affected the result of the election and consequently the election of Shri Gurbanta Singh was void on this ground also.
3. With regard to the question of bribery, we have the statement of Kartar Chand P. W. to whom the offer is said to have been made and that of Pritam Singh P. W. who is said to have been present at the time. According to Kartar Chand, he was one of the validly nominated candidates during the last general elections and on the 4thk of February, 1957, which was the last date for the withdrawal of the candidature, he had gone to the office of the Deputy Commissioner at Jullundur and was standing outside in the lawns at a short distance from the office of Shri J. S. Madan, the Returning Officer, when he was approached by Pritam Singh told him that he being a Congress candidate should not oppose the official nominee of the Congress and that if he continued to contest the election he may adversely affect the changes of the official candidates by deflecting a large number of electors because he had influence in about eighty villages in that constituency where persons coming from Dhijkot Manko in West Pakistan, from where Kartar Chand had come, had settled. At that time Shri Karam Singh Kirti came out of the room occupied by Shri J. S. Madan, Returning Officer, and told him that "the Congress High Command had made the final selection". What happened thereafter is described by Kartar Chand as follows:
"I told him that I would have to ascertain what the Congress High Command had done and then I may decide. At that stage, Kirti Sahib attempted to put into my pocket four or five hundred-rupee currency notes and though I pressed my pocket, he thrust them into. (sic) I thereupon said that this is not a matter of sale of livestock, but is a question of honour and prestige. I would not accept any consideration for this. If I am satisfied about the final decision of the Congress High Command, I would withdrawn from the contest and I
