TOWN MUNICIPAL COUNCIL COONDAPUR Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The civic affairs of Coondapur village were managed by the Village Panchayat, of which one Smt Fernandes was the Chairman before it was converted into a Town Municipal Council, Coondapur (hereinafter referred to as the 'Council').

(2.) When it was so converted, the existing panchayat body was converted into an ad hoc Council with Smt Fernandes continuing as its President. The said ad hoc Council managed the affairs of the Council for about two and a half years when it was replaced by an elected body comprising of the petitioners and nine others, which body took charge on 1-8-1975, although the new committee had been elected some time in the month of June. It is alleged that during the interregnum between the election of the new committee and the taking over of the charge on 1-8-1975 by the said committee the ad hoc committee, of which Smt Fernandes was the President, passed various resolutions approving many schemes requiring the incurring of expenditure running into lakhs; that the new elected committee finding it beyond the means of the Council to finance all these schemes that had been approved by the ad hoc committee in the course of the said interregnum, decided to shelve the said resolutions by its resolution dt.18-8-1975; that Smt Fernandes who, though had been elected as the member of the new Council, but had failed to be elected as the President of the committee, wrote on 11-9-75 to the Baputy Commissioner to cancel the resolution dt.18-8-1975; that the Govt by a letter dt.15-6-1976 turned down the representation made by Smt Fernandes regarding the cancellation of the resolution of the Council dt.18-8-1975 and also her request for supersession of the Council, which had been urged by her in her subsequent representations; that however, the Govt sent for the comments from the authorities including the Divisional Commr and the Deputy Commr regarding the contents of the letter dt.12-4-1976 addressed by Smt Fernandes to the Minister for Municipal Administration; that the Deputy Commr required the Asst Commr to submit his report who did so by his communication dt.18-6-76 (Ext. E); and that the Council was served with a show cause notice dt. 6-8-1976 (Ext.F), to which it submitted a reply on 18-8-1976 (Ext.G).

(3.) Thereafter the Govt passed the order dt.1-9-1976 (Ext.M) superseding the Council, which led petitioner-1 who was then the President of the Council and 9 other petitioners who were then the members of the Council, to seek redress in this Court on the writ side against the impugned order of supersession of the Council, inter alia, on the ground that the impugned order had not been passed in accordance and in compliance with the mandatory provisions of S.316 of the Karnataka Municipalities Act, 1964 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Act'), inasmuch as the order had been passed by the Govt without applying its mind to the reply of the Council to the charges contained in the show cause notice and that many of the defaults and lapses alleged against the present Council were committed by the ad hoc Council.