iminal Appeal No 8 of 1966
Appeal by special leave from the judgment and order dated April 29 1965 of the Punjab High Court Circuit Bench at Delhi in Criminal Appeal No 164 D of 1962
Bishan Narain K K Raizada and A G Ratnaparkhi for the appellant
Sardar Bahadur and Yougindra Khushalani for respondent No 1
R N Sachthey for respondent No 2
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by Ramaswami J
On August 29 1960 Shri Sham Sundar Mathur Municipal Prosecutor of the Delhi Municipal Corporation filed a complaint in the court of Magistrate First Class against the respondent Jagdishlal under section 7 read with section 16 of the 37 of 1954
In the said complain Shri Sham Sundar Mathur said that lie was competent to file the complaint under section 20 of the aforesaid Act in accordance with a resolution passed by the Corporation in its meeting held on December 23 1968
By his order dated April 30 1962 the learned Magistrate acquitted the respondent
The Delhi Municipal Corporation made an application to the High Court asking for special leave under section 417 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to appeal against the order of acquittal
The application was ranted on September 3 1962
When the appeal came up for hearing a preliminary objection was raised on of the respondent that the only person competent to file the appeal was the complainant Shri Sham Sundar Mathur
But the leave application was not filed by him and therefore the Municipal Corporation was not competent to prosecute the appeal
It was contended that only the complainant was competent to present an application for special leave under section 4173 of the Code of Criminal Procedure
As the complainant in this case was Shri Sham Sundar Mathur the appeal could not be filed by the Delhi Municipal Corporation
The High Court upheld the preliminary objec tion of the respondent and dismissed the appeal by its order dated April 29 1965
This appeal is brought by special leave on behalf of the Delhi Municipal Corporation against the judgment of the High Court dated April 29 1965 in Cr
No 163 D of 1962
Section 20 of the states  581  1 No prosecution for an offence under this Act shall be instituted except by or with the written consent of the Central Government or the State Government or a local authority or a person authorised in this behalf by general or special order by the Central Government or the State Government or a local authority  Provided that a prosecution for an offence under this Act may be instituted by a purchaser referred to in section 12 if he produces in court a copy of the report of the public analyst along with the complaint
Section 417 sub sections
1 2 and 3 of the Code of Criminal Procedure after its amendment by Act 26 of 1955 provide   1 Subject to the provisions of sub section 5 the State Government may in any case direct the Public Prosecutor to present an appeal to the High Court from an original or appellate order of acquittal passed by any Court other than a High Court
2If such an order of acquittal is passed in any case in which the offence has been investigated by the Delhi Special Police Establishment constituted under the XXXV of 1946 the Central Government may also direct the Public Prosecutor to present an appeal to the High Court from the order of acquittal
3If such an order of acquittal is passed in any case instituted upon complaint and the High Court on an application made to it by the complainant in this behalf grants special leave to appeal from the order of acquittal the complainant may present such an appeal to the High Court
The principal question to be determined is whether the com plaint dated August 29 1960 was instituted by the Delhi Municipal Corporation
It is argued on behalf of the respondent that the complaint petition was not made and signed by the person competent under the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act 1957 to exercise powers of the Corporation in the matter of institution of legal proceedings
In our opinion there is substance in this contention
The only provision under the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act 1965 which confers power to institute legal proceedings is section 4761 h which states 582 1 The Commissioner may hinstitute and prosecute any suit or other legal proceeding or with the approval of the Standing Committee withdraw from or compromise any suit or any claim for any sum not exceeding five hundred rupees which has been instituted or made in the name of the Corporation or of the Commissioner It is clear that the phrase other legal proceedings includes the power to institute a complaint before a Magistrate and hence it is the Commissioner alone who could exercise the power as there is no other provision in the Act which confers such power on anyone else
This view is supported by the decision of this Court in Bailavdas Agarwala vs J C Chakravarty1 in which it was pointed out that a complaint under The Calcutta Municipal Act 1923 as applied to the Municipality of Howrah would only be filed by the au thorities mentioned therein and not by an ordinary citizen
Section 537 of that Act provided that the Commissioners may institute defend or withdraw from legal proceedings under the Act under section 12 the Commissioners can delegate their functions to the Chairman and the Chairman may in his turn delegate the same to the Vice Chairman or to any municipal officer
It was observed in that case that the machinery provided in the Act must be followed in enforcing its provisions and it was against the tenor and scheme of the Act to hold that section 537 was merely enabling in nature
The principle invoked in that case was that adopted by the Privy Council in Nazir Ahmad vs King Emperor 2 viz  that where a power is given to do a certain thing in a certain way the thing must be done in that way or not at all
It was therefore held that if a legal proceeding was instituted under the Municipal Act in question it must be done in accordance with the provisions of the Act and not otherwise
But the question presented for determination in the present appeal is somewhat different
Under section 20 of Act 37 of 1954 the prosecution for the offence may be instituted either a by the Central Government or the State Government or a local authority or b a person authorised in that behalf by general or special order by the Central Government or the State Government or a local authority
Section 2vii of Act 37 of 1954 defines a local authority to mean in the case of a local area which is a 1  2 63 IA 372 at 381
583 pality the municipal board or municipal corporation
 A complaint under section 20 of the Act may therefore be instituted either by the Municipal Corporation or by a person authorised in its behalf by general or special order by the Municipal Corporation
The Resolution of the Delhi Municipal Corporation dated December 23 1958 reads as follows Subject  Authorising the Municipal Prosecutor and the Assistant Municipal Prosecutor to launch Prosecutions under section 20 of the 
The area under the jurisdiction of the Delhi Municipal Corporation has been declared a local area under section 2vii of the vide Chief Commissioner s Notification No F3230 58 M and PHi dated 13th June 1958 published in the Delhi Gazette Part IV dated 26th June 1959 and consequently the Municipal Corporation of Delhi is the Local Authority for that area within the meaning of section 2vii of the said Act
Section 20 of the contemplates the appointment of persons who shall be authorised to institute prosecutions under this Act by the Local Authority concerned
Shri Sham Sundar Mathur MA LLB Municipal Prosecutor and Shri Bankey Behari Tawkley Assistant Municipal Prosecutor were authorised by the erstwhile Delhi Municipal Committee tinder the above section Shri Vijay Kumar Malhotra moved the following resolution which was seconded by Shri Prem Sagar Gupta Resolved that the recommendations of the Commissioner vide letter No 139Legal58 dated 1 12 58 regarding authorising the Municipal prosecutor and the Assistant Municipal Prosecutor to launch prosecutions under section 20 of the be approved
The resolution was carried
 In the present case Shri Sham Sundar Mathur Municipal Prosecutor filed the complaint under section 20 of Act 37 of 1954 under L14Sup
CI69 8 584 the authority given to him by the resolution of the Municipal Corporation
Since the Municipal Corporation Delhi is a local authority within the meaning of section 20 of Act 37 of 1954 and since it conferred authority on the Municipal Prosecutor the complaint was properly filed by Sham Sundar Mathur
The question is whether the Delhi Municipal Corporation or Shri Mathur was the complainant within the meaning of section 4173 of the Code of Criminal Procedure
It was argued on behalf of the respondent that the complainant was Shri Sham Sundar Mathur the Municipal Prosecutor and the Delhi Municipal Corporation was not competent to make an application for special leave under section 4173 Cr
PC We are unable to accept this argument as correct
It is true that Shri Sham Sundar Mathur filed the complaint petition on August 29 1960
But in filing the complaint Shri Mathur was not acting on his own personal behalf but was acting as an agent authorised by the Delhi Municipal Corporation to file the complaint
It must therefore be deemed in the contemplation of law that the Delhi Municipal Corporation was the complainant in the case
The maxim qui per alium facit per seipsum facere videtur he who does an act through another is Jeemed in law to do it himself illustrates the general doctrine on which the law relating to the rights and liabilities of principal and agent depends
We are therefore of opinion that Shri Mathur was only acting in a representative capacity and that the Delhi Municipal Corporation was the complainant within the meaning of section 4173 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and the petition for special leave and the appeal petition were properly instituted by the Delhi Municipal Corporation
For these reasons we allow the appeal set aside the judgment of the High Court dated April 9 1965 and direct that the appeal should be remanded to the High Court for being heard afresh and disposed of according to law
GC Appeal allowed


Summary:
A complaint under section 7 read with section 16 of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act 1964 was filed against the respondent
It was filed by the Municipal Prosecutor who had been authorised to file such complaints by a resolution passed by the appellant corporation under section 20 of the aforesaid Act
On the respondent being acquitted the appellant corporation filed an application in the High Court for special leave to appeal under section 417 of the Code of Criminal Procedure
The application was allowed
When the appeal came up for hearing a preliminary objection was raised by the respondent that the complaint having been filed by the Municipal Prosecutor the corporation was not a complainant  within the meaning of section 4173 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and therefore special leave to appeal should not have been granted
The High Court upheld the preliminary objection and dismissed the appeal
By special leave the corporation appealed to this Court
HELD  i Under section 4761h of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act the person competent to institute legal proceedings is the Commissioner
However the present case was governed not by that provision but by section 20 of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act 1964 which provides that a prosecution under that Act may be instituted by the Central Government or the State Government or a local authority or a person authorised in this behalf by general or special order by the Central Government or the State Government or a local authority
Section 2vii of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act defines a local autho rity to mean in the case of a local area which is a municipality the municipal board or municipal corporation
The Delhi Municipal Corporation was a local authority within the meaning of section 20 581 H 582 C G H 584 A iiThe Municipal Prosecutor had filed the complaint against the respondent under authority given to him by the resolution of the Delhi Municipal Corporation under section 20 of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act
in filing the complaint the said prosecutor was not acting on his own personal behalf but was acting as an agent authorised by the Delhi Municipal Corporation to file the complaint
It must therefore be deemed in law that the Delhi Municipal Corporation was the complainant  in the case for according to the Latin maxim
One who does an act through another is deemed in law to do it himself 583 H 584 C D Being thus the complainant in the case the appellant Corporation could properly file the application under section 417 of the Code of Criminal Procedure
Case remanded to High Court for disposal according to law 584 E 580 Ballavdas Agarwala vs J C Chakravarty 1962 3 SCR 739 and Nazir Ahmad vs King Emperor 63 IA 372 as 381 referred to