BALAKRISHNA BHASKAR PARANJAPE Vs. H R GOKHALE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an application under Rule 22 of the Rules framed by this Court in regard to Election Petitions under the Representation of the People Act, 1951, by the respondent, praying that in view of the failure of the petitioner to set forth full particulars of the corrupt practices alleged by him, his petition be dismissed in limine or in the alternative for an order directing the petitioner to give full particulars of the alleged corrupt practices and a consequential order for extension of time to file the Written Statement.

(2.) BEFORE I deal with the claim for particulars made by the respondent in the present application, I may dispose of the point which indeed, was the only point raised by the petitioner who appeared in person before me in regard to the present application. It was contended by the petitioner that in exercise of the Court's discretion in the matter of making an order under O. 6. R. 5. sub-rule (2) of the Civil P. C. , I should postpone making any order for particulars till after discovery of the necessary documents is made by the parties. Apart from the fact that under O. 6. R. 5. sub-rule (2), as now amended by this Court, an application for particulars by the respondent had to be made before the returnable date of the summons, which is to-day, I do not think that the principle on which the petitioner has relied in regard to the exercise of the Court's discretion in the matter of ordering particulars has any application to an election petition in view of the mandatory terms of Section 83 (1) (b) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which enjoins that full particulars of any corrupt practice alleged by the petitioner in such a petition must be given in the petition itself. There are, of course, two limitations on the right of a party to call for "full particulars" of any corrupt practice which has been alleged in the petition. The first of them is to be found in Section 83 (1) (b) itself, in so far as it states that the particulars must be as full "as possible. " which must mean as are possible having regard to the nature of the corrupt practice alleged. Such a limitation would, apart from the words of the statute itself, follow even as a matter of reasonable construction of that section. The second limitation on the "full particulars" enjoined by Section 83 (1) (b) follows from the terms of Sect 86 (5) of the same Act, in so far as it empowers the Court to allow particulars of any corrupt practice alleged in the petition to be amended or amplified in such manner as may be necessary " for ensuring a fair and effective trial of the petition. " These words, though they occur in a provision which deals with the question of amendment or f amplification of particulars already contained or given, in my opinion, furnishes a clue to the way in which the court should exercise its power of ordering particulars in an election petition and constitutes what I would call the second limitation on the apparently unlimited import of the expression "full particulars. " It is in the light of these observations that I will now proceed to deal with the various items in the respondent's application for particulars.

(3.) AS far as Item No. 1 in the Schedule to the application is concerned, though the petitioner has used the expression " election agents" in the plural, in view of the provisions of Section 40 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, under which each candidate can appoint only one election agent whose name has to be communicated to the Returning Officer. I think it is superfluous to direct particulars of the names and addresses of the election agents mentioned in para. 3 of the petition book. I, however, direct that, as regards the dates and the places at which the alleged several meetings were held are concerned, the petitioner should state on affidavit such of the dates and places as he is able to give, and state on affidavit that he cannot give the rest, or if he cannot give any dates or places at all in regard to the same, he should make a statement on oath to that effect.