SHANKAR ROY CHOWDHURY Vs. HEACOTTON

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an application on behalf of the plaintiff for an order that the first defendant the Honourable Mr. Cotton, who is the President of the Bengal Legislative Council, may be restrained from putting a certain Motion, being Item No. 6 in the Printed List of Business, before the Bengal Legislative Council at its Session which commences to-day at 3 P.M., and for an order restraining the second and third defendants, the Honourable Mr. Fazl-ul Huq and the Honourable Mr. Ghuznavi, who are the Ministers, in charge of the Departments of Education and Agriculture of the Government of Bengal from discharging any duties as Ministers, or receiving any payment of salary and for such other or further order as to this Court may seem lit and proper.

(2.) This application has been brought on immediately after the delivery of my judgment this morning in the matter of the application under Section 45 of the Specific Belief Act on the part of Mr. J. M. Sen Gupta, praying for an order on Mr. Cotton directing him to disallow the said motion. For the reasons given by me I dismissed that application: In re Jatindra Mohan Sen Gupta A.I.R 1925 Cal. 48. But the questions raised on the present application are of such great importance, raising, as it does, difficult questions of constitutional law and procedure which might be carried to the highest tribunal, that it would have been more convenient if I were able to deliver a considered and written judgment. I felt that my decision might have the effect of creating a serious constitutional crisis and that in these circumstances there were two courses open to me (1) that instead of making an interlocutory order of the description asked for, I should try out the suit in which the present application has been made within 10 days from date, or (2) that this application should be dealt with by me on: Wednesday next, it being understood that whichever course was adopted, the President of the Bengal Legislative Council should stay his hands meanwhile. The learned Advocate-General informed me, however, that arrangements had been made, whatever that might mean, so that the said item No. 6 might be put as the very first item of business before the Legislative Council this afternoon and that it was impossible to interfere with the order of business as it was one which was sanctioned by His Excellency the Governor of Bengal. I was not satisfied that the order of business could not be altered and I accordingly desired the learned Advocate-General to ascertain if it was not possible for His Excellency to give the necessary directions in this behalf, assuming that a matter like this was not within the competence of the President. It is now 2-15 P.M. and I have not been informed as yet of the result of the enquiry that I desired to be made. The matter is of very great urgency and I must therefore proceed to judgment.

(3.) The facts giving rise to the present application are more or less the same as ware raised on the application of Mr. Sen Gupta for a writ of Mandamus. Those facts will be found set out in the judgment which I delivered this morning and it will therefore not be necessary for me to repeat the same again in this judgment. I desire, therefore, that so far as the facts are concerned, my judgment in the case of Mr. Sen Gupta may be read as part of this judgment. This course is rendered all the more necessary because of the shortness of time at my disposal.