SARYUG MOCHI Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Sub-sec. (1) of Sec. 18 of Bihar Municipal Act, 2007 (..Act.. for short) lays down the disqualifications of a person for election, or after election for holding the post, as a member of municipality. One of such disqualifications is laid down as:

(2.) The Act came into force with effect from the date of its publication in Bihar Gazette (Extraordinary) dtd. 5/4/2007. Clearly thus, a person having more than two children up to 5/4/2008 does not suffer disqualification by operation of Clause (m) of sub-sec. (1) of Sec. 18 of the Act. Sub-sec. 2 of the Act empowers the State Election Commission to decide the matters of disqualification on a complaint, application or information by any authority or upon taking suo motu cognizance of such matters, after allowing sufficient opportunity to the affected parties of being heard. The scope of the jurisdiction of the State Election Commission under sub-sec. 2 of Sec. 18 of the Act has been conclusively decided by a Full Bench of this Court in the case of Rajani Kumari Vs. The State Election Commission and Ors. reported in 2019 (4) PLJR 673. While answering the question of whether the State Election Commission will have the power to consider disqualification of a candidate after election as such Election Commission is constituted for conduct of elections, the Full Bench in case of Rajani Kumari (supra) has held in no uncertain terms as follows:-

(3.) In the present batch of three writ applications filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, an order dtd. 2/3/2022 passed by the State Election Commissioner, Bihar, whereby it has declared the petitioners disqualified to hold the post of ward councilor by operation of Clause (m) of sub-sec. (1) of Sec. 18 of the Act is under challenge. After having declared so, the petitioners have been ordered to be removed from the posts of ward councillors of respective councils of the Nagar Panchayat, Naubatpur in the District of Patna. The petitioners have put to challenge the said order dtd. 2/3/2022 passed by the Commission.