V RAMACHANDRA RAO Vs. ANDHRA PRADESH REGIONAL COMMITTEE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners who are five members of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly, seek a declaration that the proceedings of the Andhra Pradesh Regional Committee, dated 10-7-1964 at the 19th Meeting are null and void and further ask for an order of direction under Art. 226 of the Constitution to compel the Chairman of the said Committee to convene a fresh Meeting of the Committee after issuing proper notice to all the Members thereof including the petitioners for considering the Andhra Pradesh Gram Panchayat Amendment Bill, 1964 which had been referred to it by the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly. Along with this petition under Art. 226, the petitioners have filed a C. M. P. to restrain, until disposal of the main Petition, the Council of Ministers represented by the Chief Minister, from presenting the two Bills to the Governor under Art. 200 of the Constitution. The main Petition and the C. M. P. have been heard together as desired by both sides and can, therefore, be disposed of by a common judgment.

(2.) Before proceeding further/, it is necessary to refer to Art. 371 (1) of the Constitution which was substituted by the Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Act, It reads : "Notwithstanding anything in this Constitution, the President may, by order made with respect to the State of Andhra Pradesh or Punjab, provide for the constitution and functions of regional committees of the Legislative Assembly of the State, for the modifications to be made in the rules of business of the Government and in the rules of procedure of the Legislative Assembly of the State and for any special responsibility of the Governor in order to secure the proper functioning of the regional committees". In exercise of the powers conferred by this constitutional provision, the President made the Andhra Pradesh Regional Committee Order, 1958 (hereinafter referred to as the Order). By paragraph 3 of this Order, a Regional Committee of the Assembly for the Telangana region consisting of the members of the Assembly who for the time being represent the constituencies within that region was constituted. Every bill affecting the Telangana region which is not a Money bill and contains mainly provisions dealing with any of the matters enumerated in the first schedule to the Order, is required, upon introduction in the Assembly, to be referred to the Regional Committee for consideration and report to the Assembly, vide paragraph 5 of the Order. Paragraph 6 of the Order provides that any Bill so referred to the Regional committee may, if so recommended by it, be passed by the Assembly with such variations as may be necessary in its application to the Telangana region. Paragraph 8 required that the modifications directed in the second schedule to the Order shall be made in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly Rules and shall not in any way be affected by an amendment that may hereafter be made in the said Rules by the Assembly under Art. 208 of the Constitution. The last paragraph of the Order, Viz., paragraph 10 lays down that the Governor shall have special responsibility for securing the proper functioning of the Regional Committee in accordance with the provisions of the Order.

(3.) The Andhra Pradesh Gram Panchayats Amendment Bill, 1964 and the Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Samithis and Zilla Parishads Amendment Bill, 1964 already referred to, related to the first item enumerated in the first schedule to the Order and also affected the Telangana region. They were, therefore, "Regional Bills" within the meaning of Rule 2 (k) of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly Rules as amended by the second schedule to the Presidents Order. These Bills were, therefore, referred to the Regional Committee under paragraph 5 of the Presidents Order read with R. 128-B of the Assembly Rules. The Regional Committee considered these two Bills and the Chairman of the Committee presented the report of the Committee to the Assembly as contemplated by R. 164-K of the Assembly Rules. Assembly R. 164-J directed that as soon as may be, after a Bill has been referred to the Regional Committee, the Regional Committee shall meet, from to time, in accordance with R. 164-G to consider the Bill and shall make a report thereon within the time fixed by the Assembly. The Regional Committee accordingly considered the Bills and presented its report to the Assembly as contemplated by R. 164-K. Thereafter, the Assemble proceeded with the Bills in accordance with the prescribed rules of procedure and finally passed them. The present Petition under Art. 226 was filed after the Bills were thus passed by the Legislative Assembly.