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1960 Supreme(MP) 39
IN THE HIGH COURT OF MADHYA PRADESH AT JABALPUR
M. HIDAYATULLAH, G.P. BHUTT, JJ.
Famadhar Pandey
Vs.
State
M.P. No. 215 of 1958
Decided On: 29.01.1960
For Appellant/Petitioner/Plaintiff: A.P. Sen & R.K. Tankha
For Respondents/Defendant:M.P. Shrivastava, Dy. Government Advocate for State G.P. Singh for Respondent
The provisions of the Rewa State Municipalities Act, 1945, as amended by the Rewa State Municipalities (Vindhya Pradesh Amendment) Act, 1955, govern the election process for Maihar Municipality, and the Assembly electoral roll serves as the electoral roll for the Municipality, eliminating the need for separate electoral roll preparation and revision.
Headnote:
ELECTION LAW - REWA STATE MUNICIPALITIES ACT, 1945 (NO. 1 OF 1945) - REWA STATE MUNICIPALITIES (VINDHYA PRADESH AMENDMENT) ACT, 1955 (NO. 8 OF 1956) - ELECTION TO MAIHAR MUNICIPALITY - PREPARATION OF ELECTORAL ROLLS - SCRUTINY OF NOMINATION PAPERS - VALIDITY OF ELECTIONS.
Fact of the Case:
Petition challenging the validity of elections held for Maihar Municipality on the grounds of non-preparation of separate electoral rolls and lack of scrutiny of nominations for candidate qualifications.
Finding of the Court:
1. The Rewa State Municipalities Act, 1945, as amended by the Rewa State Municipalities (Vindhya Pradesh Amendment) Act, 1955, governs the election process for Maihar Municipality. 2. Section 21 of the amended Act provides that the electoral roll for a Municipality or ward shall be deemed to be the Assembly roll relating to that area, eliminating the need for separate electoral roll preparation. 3. The deletion of clause (a) of section 25 and the rules regulating electoral roll preparation and revision renders the rules inconsistent with the amended Act and therefore invalid. 4. The Assembly electoral roll serves as the electoral roll for the Municipality, and the fiction created by section 21(2) precludes the revision or amendment of electoral rolls. 5. Scrutiny of nomination papers for candidate qualifications is not required at the nomination stage but can be challenged through an election petition, as per Rule 48 of the rules framed under the Act.
Issues: 1. Whether the absence of separate electoral rolls for the Maihar Municipality and its wards invalidates the elections. 2. Whether the lack of scrutiny of nomination papers for candidate qualifications at the nomination stage renders the elections void.
Ratio Decidendi: 1. The amended Act, particularly section 21, clearly states that the Assembly electoral roll shall be deemed to be the electoral roll for the Municipality, eliminating the requirement for separate electoral roll preparation. 2. The deletion of clause (a) of section 25 and the rules governing electoral roll preparation and revision renders the rules inconsistent with the amended Act and therefore invalid. 3. The fiction created by section 21(2) makes the Assembly electoral roll the electoral roll for the Municipality, precluding the need for revision or amendment of electoral rolls. 4. The Act and rules provide for scrutiny of candidate qualifications through an election petition, rather than at the nomination stage.
Final Decision: The petition challenging the validity of the Maihar Municipality elections is dismissed. The elections are held to be valid despite the absence of separate electoral rolls and the lack of scrutiny of nomination papers for candidate qualifications at the nomination stage.
M. HIDAYATULLAH, C.J.
1. This petition is directed against the election of some of the respondents to the Maihar Municipality held on 27th July 1958. The contention of the petitioners is that the elections were bad because separate electoral rolls for the Maihar Municipality and/or the wards thereof were not prepared. It is also contended that scrutiny was not made of the nominations of the candidates with regard to then being qualified under the Act. These are the only two points which have been brought to our notice, and it is therefore not necessary to recount other facts.
2. Formerly, there existed in the Rewa State the Rewa State Municipalities Act, 1945 which was adopted for the purposes of Maihar. Subsequently on the 21st June 1956 the principal Act was amended by the Rewa State Municipalities (Vindhya Pradesh Amendment) Act, 1955 (No. 8 of 1956). It is the provisions of the principal Act read in the light of the amendments made which have led to this petition.
3. Under section 15 of the principal Act, the first general election of members of Municipal Boards was to be held on such date or dates as the Government by notification in the Gazette appointed. Thereafter, the general elections were to be held at the end of every three years on date or dates appointed by the District Magistrate, In the year 1954, by Act II of 1954, a proviso was added by which the State Government was entitled to postpone the elections. The section in question was replaced by another section by the amending Act, which provided that subject to the provisions of the amending Act the term of office of members of a Board shall be for a period of three years from the date on which their election or nomination has been notified under section 34, provided that the Government may by notification from time to time extend the term of office of members of the Board so however that the total period for which the term is so extended does not in the aggregate exceed one and a half years It was admitted before us that the term of the old Board came finally to an end in January 1958 necessitating fresh elections. By the time certain rules which were published in the Madhya Pradesh Gazette of the 27th December 1957 came into force, vital changes had been made in the principal Act by the amending Act, and we now begin to scrutinize how the amendments operated and how far reaching they were.
4. Under section 21 of the principal Act the qualifications of electors were stated. It is not necessary to quote those qualifications, because the section was completely replaced by another section by the amending Act, The amended section reads as follows:-
21. Qualification of electors.-(1) For the purpose of holding an election to a Municipality there shall be an electoral roll for each Municipality, a separate roll being prepared for each ward.
(2) So much of the Assembly roll as relates to the areas comprised within a Municipality, or the ward of such municipality shall be deemed to be the electoral roll for such Municipality or the ward thereof, as the case may be.
(3) A person shall not be deemed to be an 'elector of a Municipality or a ward thereof, unless his name is entered in the electoral roll of that Municipality or that ward, as the case may be.
5. It will appear from this that the detailed qualifications entitling persons to be enrolled as electors completely disappeared and instead was substituted the qualification that their names must be found in the rolls prepared for the Assembly election relating to the area comprised within the Municipality or the ward of such Municipality. This difference will be commented upon in the sequel.
6. Again, section 25 of the principal Act, which dealt with the matters to be regulated and governed by rules and which read as follows, was amended:
The following matters shall be regulated and governed by rules:-
(a) The preparation and revision of electoral rolls;
............
We find from the amending Act that this clause (a) of secti
