DEODUTT SHARMA Vs. ZAHOOR AHMED ZAID

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a writ application by Deodutt Sharma under Article 226 of the Constitution, and arises out of an election dispute relating to the office of chairman of the Ajmer Municipal Committee. The petitioner claims to be the duly elected chairman of this committee. The respondent No. 1 Zahoor Ah-med Zaid is the Senior Vice Chairman. The respondent No. 5 Pratapchand Jain also claims to have been duly elected to the office of the Chairman of this Committee and is at present functioning as such. The respondent No. 4 is the Municipal Committee, Ajmer and respondents Nos. 2 and 3 are the Government of Rajasthan and the Collector, Ajmer. It appears that there are factions in this Committee, which are more or less evenly balanced, and these factions have been in existence for some time.

(2.) In order to appreciate the controversy which has been raised before us, it is necessary to narrate a few material facts. A casual vacancy arose for the chairmanship of the Ajmer Municipal Committee on the 18th October, 1958, when the resignation of Jwalaprasad, the outgoing Chairman, was accepted. A meeting was scheduled to be held both for considering the resignation of Jwalaprasad and for electing a successor to him for the same date, that is. the 18th October, 1958. The resignation of Jwalaprasad was accepted, but the election of the new Chairman was postponed obviously owing to short notice, and it was decided that a further meeting for the said purpose be called within ten days. The Senior Vice Chairman Zahoor Ahmed Zaid acted as chairman pending the filling up of the vacancy. The Senior Vice Chairman did not call any meeting up to the 23rd October, 1958. On the last-mentioned date, as he was absent from the station, the Junior Vice Chairman Lekhraj Thakkar called a meeting for the 24th October, 1958, for the purpose of electing a new chairman. This meeting was cancelled by the Senior Vice Chairman who happened to arrive back in Ajmer before the meeting was actually held. The Senior Vice Chairman also represented the matter to the Collector who under Section 238 of the Ajmer-Merwara Municipalities Regulation (No. VI) of 1925 (hereinafter called the Regulation) cancelled the meeting. Some 17 or 19 members thereafter sent a requisition to the Senior Vice Chairman, respondent No. 1, on the 25th October, 1958, under Section 50(2) of the Regulation, for summoning the meeting of the Committee for the purpose of electing its chairman. The Senior Vice Chairman Zahoor Ahmed Zaid paid no heed to this. Thereupon, a writ application was filed by six members of the Committee including the Junior Vice Chairman Lekhraj Thakkar in this Court on the 3rd November, 1958, for a writ of mandamus directing the Senior Vice Chairman to call a meeting for the said purpose. It was contended before the Bench before which the case came up for hearing that a casual vacancy in the office of the Chairman was required to be filled up within 15 days of the occurrence of the vacancy under Section 13(2) of the Regulation, and that it was provided under Sub-section (4) of the said section that where the Committee fails to elect a chairman in the manner required by Sub-section (2), the Government may nominate a chairman. This contention was repelled, and it was held that the Senior Vice Chairman had no valid excuse for not calling the meeting as desired by the Committee by its resolution dated the 18th October, 1958. The learned Judges also held that it could not be said in the circumstances that the Committee had failed to elect a chairman in the manner prescribed by Section 13(2) of the Regulation. They further held that the Senior Vice Chairman Zahoor Ahmed Zaid had not acted bona fide and that he had deliberately failed to call a meeting of the Committee to elect its new chairman. Finally, the Court granted a mandamus calling upon the Senior Vice Chairman, respondent No. 1, to convene a meeting of the Committee to be held on the 17th December, 1958, at 4 P.M. at the office of the Municipal Committee, and a copy of the order was directed to be sent to the State Government and the Collector. This order was passed on the 10th December, 1958, and is annexure No. 1.

(3.) The Senior Vice Chairman thereupon called a meeting for the 17th December, 1958, at 4 P.M. by a notice dated the 16th December, 1958, (Annexure No. 2), for the election of the chairman. The total number of the members of this Committee is 32 and out of these 31 members were present at the meeting. One of its members Radheshyam Dani, obviously a member of the group of the Senior Vice Chairman, raised a point of order, which was this :