KALYAN CHAND Vs. MINISTER LOCAL SELF GOVT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India by one Kalyan Chand against the Minister, Local Self-Government; Secretary to the Government, Local Self-Government Department; Director of Local Bodies, Rajasthan, Ex-Officio Chairman of the District Board, Jaipur; and District Board, Jaipur.

(2.) The case of the petitioner is that he was nominated a member of the provisional District Board, Jaipur, in August 1951 along with other members of the said Board, but subsequently the Minister in charge of the Local Self-Government Department on 10-4-1953 dissolved the provisional Board, of which the petitioner was a member and reconstituted it later on. The action of the Minister in charge in dissolving the Board was, it is said, mala fide. Three circumstances are mentioned in this behalf:-

(3.) The Minister in charge of the Local Self-Government it is stated had no authority under the law to order dissolution of the District Board and his order is therefore ultra vires. The Board could not be dissolved by the Government otherwise than in accordance with the provisions of Section 51 of the Jaipur District Boards Act, which were not complied with in so far as no notice was given to the Board before its dissolution containing the grounds on which such an action had been contemplated. It was therefore prayed that by a writ of mandamus or prohibition the respondents 1 to 3 be ordered not to enforce the order of dissolution of the Board and to allow the dissolved Board to function till the expiry of its prescribed term or till it was dissolved or superseded in accordance with law and that the order of dissolution be quashed.