N M RAJGURU Vs. GUJARAT UNIVERSITY AHMEDABAD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) A question of considerable interest and importance arises in this case. It is of interest because it is novel in that it does not appear to have arisen for adjudication by courts earlier. It is of importance because of the impact the decision may have in understanding the scope of the system of proportional representation by single transferable vote.

(2.) The significance of an election is that it reflects the will of the electorate in the choice of its representatives. The simplest and perhaps the earliest form of election was that of simple majority vote in a single member constituency. That is the system in force for the elections to the State Assemblies and the Lok Sabha. This system it has been said cannot be said to represent fully the peoples choice in that the will of the electors who had voted for the defeated candidate is not reflected in the result of such election. Sometimes it might even happen that the successful candidate may not have obtained the majority of the votes cast in the constituency but nevertheless he represents the constituency. The system of proportional representation by a single transferable vote envisages reflection of the electors will in a more effective manner and gives more validity to their options. Many academic bodies have adopted this system of election. We are concerned in this case with the situation arising from a development while working out that system in the matter of election to the Court (elsewhere known as the Senate) of the Gujarat University.

(3.) The petitioner before us is a teacher as defined in sec. 2(12) of the Gujarat University Act 1949 (hereinafter referred to in short as the Act). He is enrolled as a voter under the constituency of teacher of affiliated colleges under sec. 16(1) Class-II(A)(viii). As a teacher in Economics he has opted from the Faculty of Arts. He is working in C. U. Shah Arts College one of the affiliated colleges run by the Gujarat Law Society Ahmedabad. S. 15 of the Act enumerates the authorities of the University and one of them the first is the Court. The composition of the Court is provided for in s. 16(1) of the ACt. Class-II of S. 16(1) deals with the Ordinary Members component of the Court. Clause (A) enumerates 9 categories of Ordinary Members elected to the Court. It may be relevant for the purpose of this case to refer to three categories of these Ordinary Members those enumerated in clauses (v) (viii) & (ix). They read: