ATMA SINGH Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE following four questions have been referred by a Division Bench of this court to a larger Bench:

(2.) THE first question referred to the Full Bench relates to the interpretation of clause 2 of the order of the Collector. This clause makes it necessary for the returning Officer to publish the draft electoral rolls, the term 'returning Officer' being used for the officer registering the names of the electors. The manner of publication is given in this clause. It consists in making the copies of the draft electoral roll available for inspection. The controversy is, whether the draft electoral rolls are to be made available for inspection at the places 'a' and 'b' mentioned in that clause, or only notices in Form 'a' are to be displayed at such places. The notice in Form 'a' is to mention that electoral roll of a particular ward is being made available for inspection at a particular place.

(3.) IN our opinion, mere displaying of notices in Form 'a' at the places referred to in the clause is not sufficient but the copies of the electoral rolls must be made available for inspection at the places. Our reason for adopting this view is that if the mere displaying of notices in Form 'a' at the aforesaid places is deemed to be sufficient, then it shall have to be taken that the rule has not specified the places where the copy of the electoral rolls is to be made available for inspection, and it is left to the sweet will of the Returning Officer to make them so available at any place, This could not have been the intention of the order. The proper view would be to hold that Clause 2 has made it incumbent on the Returning Officer to make available a copy of the electoral roll for inspection at each of these places and did not leave it to the Returning Officer to place them at any place which may be even outside the ward. The publication of the draft electoral roll is considered necessary so that mistakes, if any, in it may be pointed out by the residents of the ward and this purpose will be better fulfilled if the copy of the electoral roll is placed at some conspicuous place in the ward in addition to its being available at the office of the municipality concerned this interpretation is therefore more in consonance with the underlying intention of Clause 2 as it would help in achieving the object behind it in much more effective manner, and also be convenient to the residents of the ward concerned then again places (a) and (b) in this clause have been mentioned not in continuation of the expression 'displaying a notice in Form 'a', but after putting a dash after it. This shows that the places mentioned at (a) and (b) have reference to making a copy of the draft electoral roll available for inspection and also for displaying notice in Form 'a'. This interpretation is in consonance with the principle that-