GADDE VENKATESWARA RAO Vs. GOVERNMENT OF ANDHRA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal by special leave against the judgment of a Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in a Letters Patent appeal confirming that of a single Judge of that Court dismissing a petition file by the appellant under Article 226 of the Constitution for issuing a writ of certiorari quashing the order of the Government of Andhra Pradesh dated April 18, 1963, under S. 72 of the Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Samithis and Zilla Parishads Act, 1959 (Act No. XXXV of 1959), hereinafter called the Act.

(2.) At the outset it will be convenient to survey the facts leading up to this appeal in their chronological order. For the promotion of rural welfare, the Government of Andhra Pradesh initiated Community Development Programme in the said State. Pursuant to that Programme, each district in the State was divided into Blocks, called Community Development Blocks. Chintalapudi Taluk in the West Godavari District was one of such Blocks. A Block Planning and Development Committee was appointed for each Block and a District Planning and Development Committee for each district. All this was done by the Government by issuing administrative directions; indeed, the said Committees were only advisory bodies and the ultimate power vested in the Government. One of the activities of the said Committees was to constitute Primary Health Centres in each district. On March 22, 1957, the Government of Andhra Pradesh issued a notification laying down broad principles for guidance in the selection of places for the location of Primary Health Centres. One of the said principles relevant to the present enquiry may be noticed at this stage and that is, the village selected for locating such Centre was expected to give 2 acres of site free and 50 per cent cash contribution which would not be less than Rs. 10,000. On April 8, 1958, the Block Planning and Development Committee, Chintalapudi, resolved unanimously, modifying its earlier resolution, to have the Primary Health Centre at Dharmajigudem village, as there were High Schools and education facilities there. On November 7, 1958, the Collector of the District formally inaugurated the Primary Health Centre at Dharmajigudem. On July 11, 1959, the said Committee passed two resolutions, among others. Under resolution 3 it recorded with appreciation the donation of 50 cents. of land by Achyutharamaiah, the Bock Committee Member, towards site for the Primary Health Centre to be located at Dharmajigudem and appealed to the members of the Block Committee to see to the remittance of the cash contribution of Rs. 10,000 immediately. Presumably because that something happened at the meeting immediately after the said resolution was passed indicating that there would be no response in that direction another resolution was passed by the said Committee recording that, as the villagers of Dharmajigudem had failed to pay the said contribution for the last 8 months, the Primary Health Centre located in that place be shifted to and established permanently at any other suitable village where land and cash contributions were forthcoming. On July 13, 1959, i. e., 2 days after the aforesaid resolution, the Block Development Officer wrote a letter to the appellant, who was the President of the village panchayat, informing him that he had not taken any steps for the realization of the contribution so far and that if the required contribution was not realized before the end of the month steps would be taken to shift the Primary Health Centre to some other place. It may be noticed at this stage that the Block Development Officer, who had to implement the resolution of the Committee, had outstepped his powers in writing a letter in derogation of the terms of the resolution of the Committee dated July 11, 1959. On July 16, 1959, the appellant and others of Dharmajigudem informed the Block Development Officer that it was not possible for them to collect the amount and that there was no objection to the shifting of the Centre from their village to any other place. On July 17, 1959, the Bock Development Officer wrote to the people of Dharmajigudem that as they were unable to pay the said amount, the said Centre would be shifted to Lingapalem. On July 27, 1959, the 4th respondent, Rangarao, representing Lingapalem village, deposited Rs. 10,000 with the Block Development Committee and also donated 2 acres of land for the purpose of locating the said Centre in the said village. On July 31, 1959, on behalf of Dharmajigudem, Venkateswara Rao, the appellant, deposited the sum of Rs. 10,000 in the Sub-Treasury and K. V. Krishna Rao donated 2 acres of land and delivered possession of the same to the Block Development Officer. On August 14, 1959, the said Committee, after reviewing the previous history of the location of the Primary Health Centre and after noticing that both the villages deposited the amount - one on July 27, 1959 and the other on July 31, 1959 - and after considering the competing claims, resolved unanimously to have the Primary Health Centre located permanently at Lingapalem and to request the authorities concerned to shift it from Dharmajigudem to Lingapalem at an early date. One important fact to be noticed in this resolution is that it was recorded therein that the representatives of Dharmajigudem assured the representatives of Lingapalem that they not only gave up their efforts to have the Primary Health Centre at Dharmajigudem but also unanimously agreed to have it located at Lingapalem. It was further recorded therein that the villagers of Lingapalem paid up the entire contribution enthusiastically and that too after obtaining the concurrence of the villages of Dharmajigudem and also on an assurance that the latter gave up the idea of having the Primary Health Centre at Dharmajigudem. It would, therefore, be noticed that this resolution for locating the Primary Health Centre at Lingapalem was passed after the representatives of the two villages settled their disputes. On September 18, 1959, the Act came into force and under S. 3 thereof a Panchayat Samithi was constituted for Chintapudi. On January 7, 1960 the Government informed the Collector of West Godavari District that the question of shifting the Primary Health Centre from Dharmatigudem to Lingapalem should be left to the decision of the Panchayat Samithi constituted under the Act. The President of the Panchayat Samithi, Chintalapudi Block, was requested to place the resolution dated August 14, 1959, of the Block Planning and Development Committee before the Panchayat Samithi for reconsideration and submit a report to the Government through the Chairman, Zilla Parishad, West Godavari. It may be noticed that after the passing of the Act, what was being done administratively was sought to be placed on a statutory basis. On May 28, 1960, the Chintalapudi Panchayat Samithi held its meeting and resolved that the Primary Health Centre should be permanently located at Dharmajigudem; and the said resolution was communicated to the Government. On July 6, 1960, the Government approved the proposal of the Chintalapudi Panchayat Samithi to locate the Primary Heath Centre permanently at Dharamjigudem. On January 23, 1961, the Rules framed by the Government in exercise of the powers conferred on it under S. 69 of the Act came into force. On February 22, 1961, on a representation made to the Government that the meeting of the Panchayat Samithi held on May 28, 1960, was irregular on the ground of inadequate notice, the Government decided not to interfere with those proceedings under S. 72 of the Act. On May 12, 1961, the Panchayat Samithi at a special meeting, on the ground that the meeting held on May 28, 1960, was not held in accordance with R. 4 (1) of the Rules for the conduct of business, in exercise of the power given to it under R. 15 thereof, cancelled all the resolutions passed by the meeting of the Samithi on May 28, 1960. On May 29, 1961, the Samithi passed another resolution adopting all the resolutions which it cancelled on May 12, 1961, except the resolution to locate the Primary Health Centre at Dharmajigudem. In regard to the location of the said Centre it resolved to locate it at Lingapalem. On March 7, 1962, the Government made an order holding that there was no valid reason for shifting the Primary Health Centre from Dharmajigudem to Lingapalem and directing the Block Development Officer to take action accordingly. The main reason given for that order was that the Primary Health Centre was already functioning at Dharamjigudem and a Health Centre once established should not be shifted to another place within the Block unless the Panchayat Samithi resolved by two-third majority of the members present at the meeting as required under R. 7 of the Rules and that the resolution dated May 29, 1961, was not supported by the requisite majority. On April 18, 1963, i.e., about a year after the earlier order, the Government passed another order wherein it held that it passed the previous order dated March 7, 1962, on a mistaken impression that it was a case of shifting the Primary Health Centre from one place where it was permanently located to another, while the correct position was that in the instant case the Primary Health Centre was not permanently located by the Government and, therefore, the resolution passed by the Panchayat Samithi on May 29, 1961, fell within R. 2 of the Rules and not under R. 7 thereof. In that view, it directed that the said Centre should be located permanently in Lingapalem village in accordance with the resolution of the Panchayat Samithi dated May 29, 1961.

(3.) A resume of the said facts leads to the following factual position. Before the Act came into force, the Primary Health Centre was inaugurated at Dharmajigudem presumably subject to the condition that the said village would comply with the conditions laid down by the administrative directions governing the location of a Centre. One of the important conditions was that the village seeking to have the Centre should give 2 acres of land free and 50 per cent cash contribution which would not be less than Rs. 10,000. The said amount was not paid by Dharmajigudem village with the result the condition was not complied with. With the consent of the representatives of the village of Dharmajigudem, the Block Planning and Development Committee resolved to shift the Primary Health Centre from Dharmajigudem to Lingapalem. The Lingapalem village satisfied the conditions on July 27, 1959. Thereafter Dharmajigudem village also satisfied the said conditions on July 31, 1959. On August 14, 1959, the said Committee by a resolution decided to locate the Centre at Lingapalem, but the Government directed the matter to be decided by the Panchayat Samithi, as by that time the Act had come into force and the Panchayat Samithi for the Block had been established. Though on May 28, 1959, the Panchyat Samithi at first resolved to have the Centre at Dharmajigudem and though the said resolution was approved by the Government, the said Panchyat Samithi finally by its resolution dated May 29, 1961, cancelled its earlier resolution and resolved to locate the Centre at Lingapalem. On March 7, 1962, under S. 62 of the Act the said resolution of the Panchayat Samithi was set aside by the Government on the ground that it did not get the requisite support of two-third majority. But on April 18, 1963, the Government reviewed its previous order, under S. 72 of the Act, on the ground that the said order was made under a mistaken impression that the Primary Health Centre was permanently located at Dharmajigudem and directed the Centre to be located at Lingapalsem. It will, therefore, be seen that though the Health Centre was formally inaugurated at Dharmajigudem before the Act came into force, there was not and could not have been a permanent location of the Centre at that place, as the condition precedent was not complied with. After the Act came into force, though the Panchayat Samithi at first approved of the location of the Centre at Dharmajigudem, it cancelled the resolution and decided to locate it at Lingapalem. The Government, on a misapprehension of fact, set aside that order, but when it came to know of the mistake it reviewed its earlier order and directed the location of the Centre at Lingapalem. The question is whether on these facts the Government had jurisdiction to make the order which it did in exercise of its power under S. 72 of the Act.