RAJAN Vs. THOMAS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition questions the right of the respondent to function as the Chairman of the Alleppey Municipality. He was elected as a Councillor of the Alleppey Municipal Council in October 1962. Subsequently the council elected him as the Chairman of the Municipality. He was arrested on 20th November 1962 and was under detention in the Central Jail till his release on 2nd March 1963.

(2.) S.63(1) of the Kerala Municipalities Act, 1960, provides that a councillor shall cease to hold office as such if he

(3.) To the same effect is Be London and Northern Bank, Mc Connel's Claim 1901 (1) Ch. 728 wherein Wright, J. again pointed out that the expression "absent himself" means something more than the expression "is absent" and that there is a difference between the act of absenting oneself which is purely voluntary, and the fact of being absent which can be either voluntary or involuntary. In Damodar Lal Acharya v. State of Rajasthan ILR 1960 (10) Rajasthan 1427 the use of the word "absented himself" in S.63(1)(a) of the Rajasthan Municipalities Act, 1659, came up for consideration. The Court said: