JAGAM MANDAIAH Vs. SINGATH PADDAIAH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant herein who had been working as Trammer in the Singareni Collieries Company Limited was elected as Sarpanch, Batwanpalli, Gram Panchayat, Bellampalli Mandal, Adilabad District on 10-3-1988. There is no dispute that at the time when he was elected as Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat, he was working in the Singareni Collieries Company Limited as Trammer. Section 17 of the A.P. Gram Panchayats Act, 1964, which deals with the disqualification of employees working in the industrial undertaking, reads as follows:-

(2.) The learned counsel has placed reliance on the Judgments of the Supreme Court in Bangalore Water Supply vs. A.Rajappa, Gramophone co. of India Ltd., vs. Birendra Bahadur Pandey and Manohar vs. Marotrad in support of his contention that the words used in the section have to be understood in the context of the purpose and object of the Act and the mischief sought to be remedied by a particular enactment. The principles of interpretation referred to in those decisions cannot be disputed; but when we apply those principles in construing a particular provision of the Act, we have to bear in mind that unless the context otherwise requires, we cannot ignore the plain and ordinary grammatical meaning of a word or expression. In our view, the word "Employee does not give scope for any ambiguity and it definitely includes all those persons who have been employed in relation to the work of a particular industrial undertaking. Since all the workmen employed in the Singareni Collieries Company Limited come within the discription of "Employee" of an industrial undertaking we have no doubt that the appellant herein incurs disqualification u/s.17 of the A.P.Gram Panchayats Act. In those circumstances, we do not see any ground to interfere with the judgment under appeal.

(3.) The writ appeal is accordingly dismissed. No Costs.