(1.) This is a petition under Section 14 of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952 (hereinafter the election of Shri Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy as a President of India at the Presidential election held on 19th July, 1977. Section 14 and the relevant part of S. 14-A of the Act read as follows:
(2.) Among the rules made by this Court, Part VII, O. 39 contains rules relating to election petitions made under Part III mentioned in S. 14 (3) of the Act. Rule 2 of O. 39 lays down:
(3.) Thus, the procedure, contained in Part III of the Rules of this Court, including O. 23 relating to the institution of suits by plaints, applies to the proceedings commenced by election petitions after reading the word "petition" for "plaint". Among these rules in R. 6 which provides that this Court after the plaint has been presented to the Registrar and numbered, shall reject the plaint "where it does not disclose a cause of action", or where "the suit appears from the statement in the plaint to be barred by any law". It is obligatory upon the Court to reject it outright and not to waste any more time upon a plaint or petition if the provisions of law are shown to bar proceedings. Indeed, it is not even necessary to issue a notice to any opposite party or parties in such a case. But, where the petition or plaint of the petitioner is rejected, O. 23, R. 7 requires that "the Court shall record an order to that effect with the reasons for the order."