Civil Appeal No 848 of 1991 etc etc
From the Judgment and Order dated 14121990 of Madhya Pradesh High Court in MA No 227 of 1990
Kapil Sibal HN Salve JB Dadachanji Mrs AK Verma and section K Mehta for the Appellants
KK Venugopal P Chidambaram SS Ray and PP Tripathi for the Respondents
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by RANGANATH MISRA CJ
The Olympic games are ancient in origin
According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica they commenced some 3500 years ago and the name came from its association with the place known as Olympia in Greece
These games were played once in every four years and were abolished in 393 AD by the Roman Emperor Theodosius I
In recent times they were revived in 1896 and have until now been held at the turn of every four years excepting during the first and the second world wars
The Olympic games are one of the biggest international events and provide great opportunities to amateur sportsmen in the different classifications
Indian participation in the Olympic games dates back to 1900 when a single representative had joined the Olympics at Paris
Gradually such participation became more systematic and broad based
While the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports of the Union Government looks after development of sports within the country the management of the Olympic participation has been entrusted to a society registered under the Societies Registration Act 21 of 1860 known by the name Indian Olympic Association  for short IOA  The Memorandum of Association of this society indicates that the principal objects of the society inter alia are i to develop and promote the Olympic movement and amateur sport 2 to promote and encourage the physical moral and cultural education of the youth of the nation for the development of character good heath and good 662 citizenship 3 to enforce all rules and regulations of the International Olympic Committee hereinafter referred to as IOC  and the IOA 4 to be the official organisation in complete and sole charge of all Olympic matters in the country 5 to educate the public of the country as to the value of amateurism in sports 6 to maintain the highest ideals of amateurism and to promote interest therein particularly in connection with the Olympic games and other games under the patronage of the IOC as well as the IOA 7 to have full and complete jurisdiction over all matters pertaining to the participation of India in the Olympic games and other games under the patronage of the IOC as well as the IOA 8 to assist in cooperation with National Sports FederationsAssociations the selection training and coaching of the teams that will represent Indian in the Asian Commonwealth Olympic and other international competitions and tournaments under the patronage of the teams in the said competitions and tournaments after selection 9 to undertake with the assistance of National Sports FederationsAssociations the financing management transportation maintenance and welfare of teams from India taking part in the Olympic games and other games under the patronage of the IOC as well as the IOA and 10 to timulate the interest of the people of the country in the promotion of sports and games in the Olympic programme and to that end the formation of State Olympic Association for the development of sports and games within a State and National Sports Federations for games and sports in the Olympic programme
We have quoted most of the important objectives to bring it to the forefront that the IOA has been brought into existence to sponsor supervise finance regulate and control all aspects of sports activity in relation to the Asian Commonwealth Olympic and international competitions and tournaments under the patronage of the IOC
While its funding is partially out of membership fee bulk of it comes from Government contribution
The society has a set of rules and regulations
There are five categories of members as described in rule 3
The management of the affairs of the Association is entrusted to an Executive Council defined in rule 1v
Rule 8 provides that the Executive Council shall have i a President ii 9 Vice Presidents iii a Secretary General iv 6 Joint Secretaries v a Treasurer vi 7 Members elected from among representatives of State Olympic Associations and vii 12 members elected from among the representatives of National Sports FederationAssociation SSCB
Rule 8 provides the manner of elections to be held 663 for the Executive Council
The term of the Executive Council is 4 years
Rule 11 provides the voting procedure
Clause b of that rule requires that voting if necessary in the IOA Executive Council IOA Emergency Executive Council andor at the annual general or special general meetings of the IOA shall be by show of hand
However if in a particular case the procedure has to be changed the same will be done by a resolution of the concerned body passed by majority vote
The very rule provides as to the voting power of the different units composing the IOA
Rule 12 deals with the office bearers like the President the Vice President the Secretary General the Joint Secretaries the Treasurer etc
For the resolution of the dispute before us perhaps reference to the other rules is not necessary
The IOA was reconstituted with effect from 28th of October 1984 with appellant Shri VC Shukla as the President
K Murugan appellant in CA No 848 of 1991 arising out of SLP 106491 was one of the 6 Joint Secretaries
In November 1988 Shri BS Adityan one of the vice President of the 1984 Executive Council was elected as President for a term of four years
On 16th of May 1990 there was a requisition of 17 Members for a special general meeting for considering the move of a no confidence motion against Shri Adityan and his Executive Council
With this started a period of confrontation between the two groups in the Association
In May 1990 the Executive Council overruled the requisition as invalid and President Adityan called a meeting of the General assembly at Madras for 15th of June 1990
For the same day the other group summoned a meeting of the general assembly at New Delhi
This led to Court proceeding and the Delhi High Court restrained the requisitionists from holding their meeting at New Delhi and appointed a retired Judge of the Delhi High Court as an observer for the meeting to be held at Madras
In the convened meeting of 15th of June minutes of the proceedings whereof have been seriously disputed Shri Shukla claimed to have been elected
A little before the meeting of the 15th of June at Madras further proceedings were taken in Court which have been labelled as collusive and manipulations for obtaining an order for the manner of voting
The warring factions lost sight of the laudable goals of the IOA and the purpose for which the Association had been set up and put their entire attention on winning control over the affairs of the IOA in their grip through litigation
664 A Single Judge of the Madras High Court having decided in favour of Shri Adityan the matter ultimately came before a Full Bench which by its order dated 3rd of January 1991 remitted the matter to the learned Single Judge and appointed Justice Natarajan a retired Judge of this Court to discharge the functions of the President of the IOA as an interim measure
This order is challenged in the appeal by Shri Murguan and Shri VC Shukla by two different appeals being Civil Appeals Nos 852853 of 1991 arising SLPs 1599 and 178791
Not content with the litigation in the Delhi and Madras High Courts the Fencing Association of India filed a civil suit at Jabalpur asking for declaration that Shri Shukla had been duly elected as President
An application for injunction in support of Shri Shukla having been rejected by the trial Judge an appeal had been taken before the High Court where a learned Single Judge made a status quo order
The other two appeals arise out of proceedings including contempt taken therein
Long arguments have been advanced before us by Mr Venugopal for Shri Adityan and by Mr Sibal for Shri Shukla
The main contention of Mr Venugopal is that under the rules the terms of the President and the Executive Council is four years and in the absence of a clear provision for a vote of No confidence which would curtail the period there could be no reduction of the period of office
It has also been contended that the entire Executive Council could not be voted out of office by a motion of no confidence and therefore Shri Adityan had rightly overruled the requisition
Serious challenge has been advanced by Mr Sibal against the proceedings taken before the Madras High Court and particularly the learned Judge making an order changing the manner of voting from show of hands to one by ballot in what is stated to be a collusive proceeding
This does not appear to us to be a matter where individual rights in terms of the rules and regulations of the Society should engage our attention
Sports in modern times has been considered to be a matter of great importance to the community
International sports has assumed greater importance and has been in the focus for over a few decades
In some of the recent Olympic games the performance of small States has indeed been excellent and laudable while the performance of a great country like India with world s second highest populations has been miserable
It is unfortunate that the highest body in charge of monitoring all aspects of such sports has got involved in group fight leading to litigation and the objectives of the Society have been lost sight of
The representation of India in the IOA has been in jeopardy
665 The grooming of amateurs has been thrown to the winds and the responsibility placed on the Society has not been responded
This therefore does not appear to us to be a situation where rights to office will have to be worked out by referring to the provisions of the law relating to meetings injunction and rights appurtenant to elective office
What seems to be of paramount importance is the healthy conditions must be restored as early as possible into the working of the Society and a fresh election has to be held as that seems to be the only way to get out of the malady
The entire nation is looking up to the results of the competitions at the international games when they are held
As we have already pointed out IOA has great responsibities to discharge in organising and streamlining the national sport activities intended for international events
The monitoring has to be a continuous one and unless the scheme is ongoing and is made result oriented the international performance cannot be up to any appreciable level
The question for consideration therefore is not as to which of the two factions should succeed
On the other hand it is appropriate that all the litigations now pending should abate
In the interest of the appropriate functioning of the Society the litigation outside the headquarters of the Society should not be permitted
We accordingly direct that any litigation if at all should only be within the jurisdiction of the Delhi High Court and no Court in India would entertain litigations relating to the functioning of IOA in any aspect
A fresh Executive Council should be set up and for that purpose elections should be held within two months hence
The general assembly should be convened to meet at Calcutta on 28th of April 1991
We appoint Mr Justice AD Koshal a retired Judge of this Court to conduct the elections keeping the provisions of the rules and regulations of the IOA in view
Voting shall be by secret ballot
The list of voters should be finally settled within four weeks from now and if it is necessary to have any hearing in the matter we authorise such hearing to be undertaken by Mr Justice Koshal
Until then Mr Justice Natarajan will continue to exercise his powers as conferred by the order of the Madras High Court
Once the results of the elections are announced Mr Justice Natarajan would cease to be in office and the Association would take over
To enable Mr Justice Koshal to discharge the obligations cast upon him by this decision the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports is directed to place at his disposal a sum of Rs25000 Twenty five thousand within two weeks and a small group of assistants as he may need
Payment of remuneration for the work done shall be fixed by the Court later
666 All the proceedings in the different High Courts abate the suit in the Jabalpur High Court shall stand dismissed
The contempt proceedings now pending shall not be proceeded with
In the course of arguments some criticism was advanced against the order of the High Court providing monthly remuneration to Mr Justice Natarajan
We leave this aspect to be considered by Mr Justice Natarajan himself and do not propose to deal with it in our order
Before we leave this matter we would like to point that the Union of India should take greater interest in organising sports both for national and international purposes
Sports have a role to play in building up good citizens
That aspect should be kept in view
We have a feeling that while a lot of money is allotted for the purpose of improvement of sports the result has been considerably poor and deceptive
We hope and trust that this aspect of the criticism heard from everywhere in this country shall also be given due consideration
VPR Appeals disposed of


Summary:
The respondent No 1 sued the second respondent defendant No 1 and the appellants defendant Nos 2 and 3 for specific performance of a contract whereunder the second respondent had agreed to sell his lands to the first respondent for Rs 5000 out of which Rs4000 were paid and the balance Rs1000 was to be paid within 5 years whereafter the second respondent was to execute a sale deed in favour of the first respondent
The Munsif decreed the suit only for recovery of Rs4850 plus pendente lite and future interest on Rs4000 and this order was confirmed by the Civil Judge by dismissing the appeal of respondent No1
A second appeal was preferred to the High Court by respondent N 1 contending that the transfers in favour of the appellants by respondent No 2 were void being in contravention of Section 168 A of the UP Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act 1950
The appellants contested the appeal contending that for a transfer being hit by Section 168 A of the Act should be in respect of a specific piece of land and not a share in a holding and that the transfers were of a portion of the shares of respondent No 1 in the disputed plot
The High Court allowed the appeal holding that the two transfers made were clearly hit by the provisions of Section 168 A2 of the Act and that the benefit of Section 43 of the Transfer of property Act could not be availed of by the appellants as the sale deeds were void in the eye of law
700 The appellant in their appeal to this Court contended that the sale made by respondent No 2 to the 2nd appellant being hit by the provisions of Section 168 A of the Act the subject matter of transfer got vested in the Government and the interest of respondent No 2 in that part of the holding stood extinguished on the date of transfer and that the sale being void he was left only with the subject matter of transfer and that the respondent No 2 having transferred that whole portion to the first appellant by sale deed such transfer being a transfer of the whole area it would be covered by the proviso under Section 168 A and as such the sale would not be hit by the provisions of Section 168 A
The first respondent contended that as the sale deeds in favour of the two appellants have been held to be void the High Court rightly decreed the suit that he having been in possession of the land and the second respondent s fragmented sales having been found to be void even if the land would vest in the State the first respondent would not be divested automatically and the State has to seek possession in accordance with the law
On the question as to what would be the effect of the two fragmented sales in favour of the appellants setting aside the order of the High Court and remanding the matter this Court HELD 1
The UP Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act was passed as it was considered expedient to provide for the abolition of the Zamindari system which involved intermediaries between the tiller of the soil and the State in Uttar Pradesh and for the acquisition of their rights title and interest and to reform the law relating to land tenure consequent upon such abolition and acquisition and to make provision for other matters connected therewith
705E F 2
The original Act did not define fragment
The definition of fragment  was added by Section 2 of the UP Act XVIII of 1956 with a view to prevent fragmentation and promote consolidation of holdings in order to avoid uneconomic units
705F G 3
The object of the section 168 A1 was to prevent fragmentation of land situated in a conolidated area and transfers that would result in fragmentation or further fragmentation shall be void and to such transfers Section 167 will mutatis mutandis be applicable when a fragment situated in a consolidated area is transferred
If transfer of a fragment is made in favour of tenure holder who has a plot contiguous to the fragment the purpose of law is not defeated inasmuch as it will be 701 consolidated with the contiguous plot of the transferee
When the land held by a person in a consolidated area is already a fragment then as was provided previous to the amendment in 1961 the whole of the plot to which the fragment pertained was to be transferred
708F 709A 4
After the amendment the invalidity and applicability of Section 167 is limited to a case where the transfer is not in favour of any such tenure holder and to the whole or so much of the plot in which the person has bhumidhar rights which pertains to fragment is thereby transferred
If the transferor has bhumidhari rights on the whole of the fragment the whole has to be transferred
If the person has bhumidhari rights only in a part of the plot that part on which he has bhumidhari rights can be transferred
The part on which the person has not bhumidhari rights is not covered by the provisions not because that would not result in further fragmentation but because he had transferable bhumidhari rights only on that portion and not on the other portion
709A C 5
The substitution of the words bhumidhar with transferable rights for the word bhumidhar would not make any difference when the bhumidhar had transferable rights but would make a difference where the bhumidhar had also lands with non transferable rights
710C D 6
Under the amended provisions the interest of a bhumidhar with transferable rights in his holding or in part thereof shall be extinguished when the holding or part thereof with bhumidhar rights has been transferred or let out in contravention of the provisions of the Act
In other words when he had bhumidhar rights on the entire holding and the same is transferred or let out in contravention of the provisions of the Act his interest shall be extinguished
If he had bhumidhari rights only on a part thereof and it has been transferred or let out in contravention of the provisions of the Act his interest in bhumidhari rights in that part shall be extinguished
The reason behind the provision to make fragmentation is the need to prevent further fragmentation if the bhumidhar with his bhumidhari rights over a fragment tries to transfer the fragment his right over the fragment is extinguished
710D E 7
In the instant case the bhumidhar respondent No 2 s land measuring 10 bighas 12 biswas and 10 biswansis was a fragment
He entered into an agreement to sell the land on 541966 and the first respondent on payment of advance of Rs4000 is stated to have had possession of the land
That sale would attract the provisions of Section 702 168 A if it resulted in transfer of the fragment
The sales to the appellant No 1 was dated 291966 and to appellant No 2 was dated 21121966
These two sales would be convered by the old provisions of sections 166 and 167 which section did not deal with the case of bhumidhar but only by sirdar or asami
But section 168 A would be attracted and the provisions of Section 167 would mutatis mutandis be applicable
710G 711B 8
The High Court did not examine the facts of the case in light of the laws prevailing at the time
Festination justiate est noverea informateeni
Hasty justice is step mother of misfortune
Injustuim est nisitota lege inspecta de una aliqua ejus particula proposita judicare vel respondere
It is unjust to decide or respond to any particular part of a law without examining the whole of the law
711B 711D E