Samarakoon V. Tikiri Banda

1949 Present: Basnayake J.

SAMARAKOON, Petitioner and TIKIRI BANDA, Respondent

S. C. 421-In the Matter of an Application for a Writ of Quo Warranto against H. M. Tikiri Banda

Quo warranto-Election of Village Committee Chairman-Bribery and treating- Remedy provided by law-Act of electing Chairman-Official act- Public Bodies (Prevention of Corruption) Ordinance-No. 49 of 1943- Section 6-Local Authorities Elections Ordinance. No. 53 of 1946-Section 10.

The act of electing a Chairman of a Village Committee is an. official act within the meaning of section 6 of Ordinance No. 49 of 1943. Where, therefore, there are allegations of treating and bribery the proper remedy is under that section and a conviction will disqualify the person charged by virtue of section 10 of Ordinance No. 53 of 1946. A writ of quo warranto will not lie in such a case.

APPLICATION for a writ of quo warranto to have the respondent's election as Chairman of the Village Committee of Udagampaha declared void.

C. S. Barr Kumarakulasinghe, with A. I. Rajasingham and T. W. Rajaratnam, for the petitioner.

G. E. Chitty, with N. Nadarasa, for the respondent.

June 7, 1949. BASNAYAKE J.-

The petitioner and the respondent are members of the Village Committee of Udagampaha. The respondent successfully contested the petitioner for the office of Chairman. The petitioner seeks to have the respondent's election as Chairman declared void. The grounds on which he relies are thus stated in his petition:

"4. Before and after the said Village Committee Elections the Respondent and his agents committed various acts amounting to general bribery, general treating and general undue influence, more fully described in the affidavits annexed A to J to this petition and filed herewith.

5. The said acts were designed to prevent the free and fair exercise of the vote at the election of the Chairman held on the 27th of July, 1948, and the said acts had the effect so designed.

6. For some time before the Election of the Chairman, the Respondent together with a number of his supporters treated the said members of the Village Committee and detained them in his house and later at other places in Girder to prevent their independently exercising their judgment in the matter of the choice of a Chairman.

7. On various occasions before the election of the Chairman, the Respondent bribed and attempted to bribe various members of the said Village Committee."

I am unable to see how "general bribery, general treating and general undue influence " before and after the village Committee election, can affect the respondent's election as Chairman of the Village Committee by his fellow members.

In regard to the allegations of treating and bribery by the respondent, I have not been referred to any case in which the election of a member to the office of Chairman of a. local body or Mayor of a council has been successfully questioned by way of quo warranto on the grounds alleged by the petitioner. Before I can allow an application in support of which no precedent is cited, I must be satisfied upon the affidavits that the allegations of the petitioner are true. In the instant case the respondent

denies that he either treated or bribed the members of the Committee and six out of the twelve members constituting the Committee deny that they were treated or bribed or that any other form of undue influence was exercised in respect of them. A mandate in the nature of a writ of quo warranto is not issued as a matter of course. It is a writ in the discretion of this Court and the onus is on the petitioner to satisfy the Court that the matter is one that calls for the remedy he asks.

Learned counsel for the respondent submitted that the petitioner should first pursue the remedy provided by the Public Bodies (Prevention of Corruption) Ordinance, No. 49 of 1943, or Chapter IX A of the Penal Code. A conviction under either of those e

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