ON Civil Appeal Nos
240677 and 356 78
Appeals by Special Leave from the Judgment and order dated 1 9 77 of the Bombay High Court in SCA No l77
A P Deshpande and M section Gupta for the Appellant in CA No 240677 and Respondent in CA No 35678
HW Dhabe and A G Ratnaparkhi for the Appellant in CA No 35678 and for the Respondent in CA No 240677
The following Judgments of the Court were delivered KRISHNA IYER J A tricky issue of statutory construction beset with semantic ambiguity and pervasive possibility and a prickly provision which if interpreted literally leads to absurdity and if construed liberally leads to rationality confront the court in these dual appeals by special leave spinning around the eligibility for candidature of an employee under the Life Insurance Corporation and the declaration of his rival 1st respondent as duly returned in a City Corporation election A tremendous trifle in one sense since almost the whole term has run out
And yet divergent decisions of Division Benches of Madras and Calcutta and a recent unanimous ruling of a Bench of five judges of Punjab and Haryana together with the Bombay High Court s decision under appeal have made the precedential erudition sufficiently conflicting for this Court to intervene and declare the law guided by the legislative text but informed by the imperatives of our constitutional order
The sister appeal filed by the respondent relates to that part of the judgment of the High Court reverses the declaration grated by the trial judge that he be deemed the returned candidate
1085 This little preface leads us on to a brief narration of the admitted facts
The appellant in CA 2406 of 1977 was d candidate for election to the Corporation of the City of Nagpur from Ward 34 and his nearest rival was the 1st respondent although there were other candidates also
Judged by the plurality cf votes the appellant secured a large lead over his opponents and was declared elected
The and of the poll process is often the beginning of the forensic process at the instance of the defeated candidates with its protracted trial and appeals upon appeals thus making elections doubly expensive and terribly traumatic
the habit of accepting defeat with grace save in gross cases is a sign of country s democratic maturity
Anyway in the present case when the appellant was declared the returned candidate the respondent
challenged the verdict in court on a simple legal ground of ineligibility of the former who was during the election a development officer under the Life Insurance Corporation for short the LIC 
The lethal legal infirmity pressed with success by the respondent was that under Regulation 25 of the Life Insurance Corporation of India Staff Regulations 1960 briefly the Regulations framed by the LIC all its employees were under an embargo on taking part in municipal elections save with the permission of the Chairman
Therefore the appellant who was such an employee and had not sought or got the Chairman s permission laboured under a legal ineligibility as contemplated in l   section 15g of the City of Nagpur Corporation Act 1948 hereinafter referred to as the Act 
Both the Courts below shot down the poll verdict with this statutory projectile and the aggrieved appellant urges before us the futility of this invalidatory argument
Section 15g is seemingly simple and reads 15
No person shall be eligible for election as a Councillor if he xx xx xx g is under the provisions of any law for the time being in force ineligible to be a member of any local authority G So the search is for any provision of law rendering the returned candidate ineligible to be a member
The fatal discovery of ineligibility made by the respondent consists in the incontestable fact that the appellant was at the relevant time an LIC employee bound by the Regulations which have the force of Law having been framed under section 49 of the LIC Act 1956
The concerned clause is Regulation 254 which reads thus 1086 25 4 No employee shall canvass or otherwise interfere or use his influence in connection with or take part in an election to any legislature or local authority
Provided that xx xx xx iii the Chairman may permit an employee to offer himself as a candidate for election to a local authority and the employee so permitted shall not be deemed to have contravened the provisions of this regulation
xx xx xx A complementary regulation arming the Management with power to take action for breach of this ban is found in Regulation 39 which states 391
Without prejudice to the provisions of other regulations any one or more of the following penalties for good and sufficient reasons and as hereinafter provided be imposed by the disciplinary authority specified in Schedule on an employee who commits a breach of regulations of the Corporation or  The crucial issue is whether this taboo in Regulation 254 spells electoral ineligibility or merely sets rules of conduct and discipline for employees violation of which will be visited with punishment but does not spill over into the area of election law
Two decisions one of Calcutta Sarafatulla Sarkar vs Surja Kumar Mondal1 and the other of Punjab  Haryana Uttam Singh vs section Kirpal Singh Z support the appellant s position that mere rules regulating service discipline and conduct even though they have the force of law cannot operationally be expanded into an interdict on candidature or amount to ineligibility for standing for election
Chakravarthi CJ speaking for a Bench of the Calcutta High Court upheld the stand 1 it appears to me to be abundantly  clear that in so far as the Government Servants  Conduct Rules provide tor discipline and document conduct and in doing so forbid conduct of certain varieties their aim is merely regulation of the conduct of Government servants as such l AIR 1955 Cal 382
2 A I R 1976 P 
H 176
1087 servants and that aim is sought to be attained by prescribing certain rules of correct conduct and laying down penal ties for their breach
If a Government servant disregards any of the Rules which bear upon discipline and conduct and conducts himself in a manner not approved by the Rules or forbidden by them he may incur the penalties for which the Rules provide
It cannot however be that any of his other rights as a citizen will be affected
Taking the present case if a Government servant violates the prohibition against offering himself as a candidate for election to one or another of the bodies mentioned in Rule 23 he May incur dismissal or such other penalty as the authorities may consider called for but the breach of the conditions of service committed by him cannot disenfranchise or take away from him any of the rights which he has in the capacity of the holder of franchise
While therefore a Government servant offering him  self for election to one of the bodies mentioned in Rule 23 may bring upon himself disciplinary action which may go as far as dismissal the consequence cannot also be that his election will be invalid or
that the validity of his election will be affected by the breach
The disqualification imposed by Rule 23 is of the nature of a personal bar which can be overstepped only at the Government servant s peril as regards his membership of a service under the Government
It is not and cannot be an absolute disqualification in the nature of ineligibility
What the Rule enjoins is that a Government servant shall not take part in any election and that he shall also not take part in the form of offering himself as a candidate The prohibition is directed at personal conduct and not at rights owned by the Government servant concerned
Illustrations of an absolute prohibition of the nature of a real disqualification or ineligibility will be found in Sections 63 El and 80 B Government of India Act 1915 19 and Article 102 and 1901 of the present Constitution which deal in both cases with qualification for election to the Central or the State Legislature In his view the core purpose of Regulation 254 is not to clamp down disqualifications regarding elections but to lay down disciplinary forbiddance on conduct of Government servants qua 1088 government servants contravention of which would invite punishment
If we may say so this is a purpose oriented interpretation
A Five Judge Bench of the Punjab  Haryana High Court adopted this reasoning in a situation akin to ours and repelled the further submission that the disqualification was founded on the policy that an employee of the Corporation if he became a member of the Legislature or City Corporation would not be able to carry out his functions
The court also dissented from a Division Bench decision of the Madras High Court which took a contrary view
It is fair to notice the Madras ruling before we discuss the fundamentals and declare the law as we read it to be
In the Madras case Narayanaswamy vs Krishnamurth1 which related to an Assembly seat the court felt that the point was not free from difficulty but reached the conclusion that the Regulation made by the LIC was perhaps intended to ensure undivided attention upon their duties as such employees but it also operated as a disqualification
The contention before the court was somewhat different
The question posed was whether the concerned Regulation could be treated as law which fulfilled the requirements of article 1911 e of the Constitution
The major consideration of the court was as to whether a regulation to ensure proper performance of duties by the employees of the Corporation could also be treated as a law imposing disqualification
Even so making a liberal approach to the line of reasoning of the court we may consider the observation as striking a contrary note
We do not examine not having been invited to do so whether Parliament or its delegate could enact a law relating to elections to local bodies cl topic which falls within the State List
We confine ourselves to the sole question debated at the Bar as to the ambit and limit the import and interpretation of Regulation 254 of the LIC Regulations vis a vis section ISg of the Act
The Regulations have been framed under s49 of the LIC Act and a conspectus of the various chapters convincingly brings home the purpose thereof
All the Regulations and the Schedules exclusively devote themselves to defining the terms and conditions of service of the staff
Regulation 25 comes within chapter III dealing with conduct and discipline of the employees
Regulation 39 deals with penalties for misconduct and Regulation 40 deals with appeals
The inference is irresistible that the sole and whole object of Regulation 25 read with Regulation 39 is to lay down a rule of conduct for the I R 1089 LIC employees
Among the many things forbidden are for instance prohibition of acceptance of gifts or speculation in stocks and shares
Obviously we cannot read Regulation 32 as invalidating a gift to an LIC employee under the law of gifts or Regulation 33 as nullifying transfer of stocks and shares speculatively purchased by an LIC employee
Likewise
Regulation 25 while it does mandate that the employee shall not participate in an election to a local authority cannot be read as nullifying the election or disqualifying the candidate
The contravention of the Regulation invites disciplinary action which may range from censure to dismissal
Section 15g relates to the realm of election law and eligibility Cr to be a member of a local authority
Ineligibility must flow from a specific provision of law designed to deny eligibility or to lay down disqualification
If a rule or conduct makes it undesirable objectionable or punishable for an employe to participate in elections to a local authority it is a distortion even an exaggeration out of proportion of that provision to extract out of it a prohibition of a citizens franchise to be member in the shape of a disqualification from becoming a member of a local authority
The thrust of Regulation 25 is disciplinary not disqualification
Its intent imposes its limit language used by a legislature being only a means of communicating its will in the given environment
This is obvious from the fact that the Chairman is given the power to permit such participation by an employee 15 depending on the circumstance of each case
Even the range of punishments is variable
No ground rooted in public policy compels us to magnify the disciplinary prescription into a disenfranchising taboo
To revere the word to reverse the sense is to do justice to the art of interpretation
Reed Dickeron quotes a passage from an American case to highlight the guideline   F The meaning of some words in a statute may be enlarged or restricted in order to harmonize them with the legislative intent of the entire statute
It is the spirit of the statute which should govern over the literal meaning There is a further difficulty in construing the Regulation as stipulating an ineligibility for candidature because there is a proviso therein for the Chairman to grant permission to the employee to participate in elections Permission is a word of wide import and may even survive the death of the person Who permits Kally vs Cornhill Insurance Co 1 The Interpretation and Application of Statutes by Reed Dickerson pr 199
1090 Ltd1 Equally clearly where a statute does not necessarily insist on previous permission it may be granted even later to have retrospective effect
Or permission once granted may be retracted
These legal possibilities will create puzzlesome anomalies if we treat the Regulations a ban on participation in election
An employee may stand as a candidate after securing permission but in the course of the election the Chairman may withdraw the permission
What happens then  An employee may be refused permission in the beginning and if he still contests and wins it is conceivable that the Chairman may grant him permission which may remove the disability
In such a case one who was ineligible at one stage becomes eligible at a later state
Other odd consequences may also be conceived of although it is not necessary to figure them out
The rationale of the Regulation rather its thrust is disciplinary not disqualificatory
It is quite conceivable if the legislature so expresses itself unequivocally that even in a law dealing with disciplinary control to enforce electoral disqualifications provided the legislature has competence
The present provision docs not go so far
Even assuming that literality in construction has tenability in given circumstances the doctrinal development in the nature of judicial interpretation takes us to other methods like the teleological
the textual the contextual and the functional
The strictly literal may rot often be logical if the context indicates a contrary legislative intent
Courts are not victims of verbalism but are agents of the functional success of legislation given flexibility of meaning if the law will thereby hit the target intended by the law maker
Here the emphasis lies on the function utility aim and purpose which the provision has to fulfil
A policy oriented understanding of a legal provision which does not do violence to the text or the context gains preference as against a narrow reading of the words used
Indeed this approach is a version of the plain meaning rule2 and has judicial sanction
In Hutton vs Phillips the Supreme Court of Delaware said1 Interpretation involves far more than picking out dictionary definitions of words or expressions used Consideration of the context and the setting is indispensable properly to ascertain a meaning 
In saying that a verbal expression is plain or unambiguous we mean little more than that we are convinced that virtually anyone competent to 11964  HL per Lord Dilhorne L C at p 323
2The Interpretation and Application of Statutes by Reed Dickerson p 231
345 Del 156160 70 A 2nd IS 17 1949 
1091 understand itand desiring fairly and impartially to ascertain its signification would attribute to the expression in its context a meaning such as the one we derive rather than any other and would consider any different meaning by comparison or far fetched or unusual or unlikely This perceptive process leaves us in no doubt the soundness of the interpretation which has appealed to the Full Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court
There is a broader constitutional principle which supports this semantic attribution
The success of our democracy to tourniquet  zenry indifferent to the political process an enemy of the Republic s vitality
Indeed absolutism thrives on inaction of the members of the polity
Therefore activist involvement in various aspects of publics affairs by as many citizens as can be persuaded to interest themselves is as sign of the health and strength of our democratic system
Local self government and adult franchise give constitutional impetus to the citizens to take part in public administration
Of course this does not mean that where a plain conflict of interest between holding an office and talking part in in the political affairs of government exists a disqualification can not be imposed in public interest
The rule is participation the exception exclusion
Viewed from that angle if a government servant or an employee of the LIC participate in local administration of other election it may well be that he may well be that he may forfeit his position as government servant or employment if dual devotion is destructive of efficiency as employee and be subject to disciplinary action a matter which depends on a given milieu and potential public mischief
I am not resting my decision on this general consideration but mention this persuasive factor as broadly supportive our conclusion
I hold that the impact of Regulation 254 is not to impose ineligibility on an LIC employee to be a member of a municipal corporation
Its effect is not on the candidature but on the employment itself
In the present case I am told that the appellant has since resigned his post
The ultimate result of the reasoning that appeals to us is that the judgement of the High Court must be reversed and the appellant restored to the poll verdict and be regarded as validly returned member of the Nagpur City Corporation
1092 In this view the next appeal by the first respondent does not fall to be considered although counsel has pressed his contention that the High Court was wrong
I do not think it necessary to discuss elaborately the legal issue except to state that the view taken by the Bombay High Court in pyare Saheb s case 1 is correct
I am constrained to state that the draftsmanship of the provision is dubious and court in this decision has had to salvage sense out of alternative absurdity flowing from fidelity to pedantry
It is clear in election lawthat a defeated candidate cannot claim a seat through an election petition merely out of speculative possibilities of success
The reasoning of the Bombay High Court not merely accords with the well known criteria incorporated in the Representation of the people Act 1951 as well as in the rulings thereon by this Court but also is in consonance with the election sense
It is true that there is no common law rule applicable in this area and election statutes have to be strictly construed but that does not doctrinally drive the Court to surrender to bizarre verbalism when a different construction may inject reasonableness i n to the provision
Section 428 of the Corporation Act aims at sense and when a plurality of contestants are in the run other than the one whose election is set aside predictability of the next highest becomes a misty venture
The rule in s428 contains the corrective in such situation s and the pregnant expression against whose election no cause or objection is found gives jurisdiction to the Court to deny the declaration by the next highest and to direct a fresh election when the constituency will speak
We concur in the reasoning of Masodkar j in the said ruling2 The reliance of Sukh Dev s case 3 by the counsel is inept
I am satisfied that the view of the High Court on this branch of the case is correct
I would therefore appeal No 2406 of 1977 and dismiss appeal no 356 to 1978
parties will bear their costs at this late when long litigation has kept in suspended animation the constituency s right to representation
Tulzapurkar J I have had the benefit of reading the judgement of my esteemed brother Krishna Iyer in these appeals whereby he proposes to allow the returned candidates appeal CA No 2406 of 1977 and dismiss the election petitioner s appeal CANO356 1 Pyare Saheb Gulzar Chhotumiya Sawazi vs Dashrath Wasudeo Doff  Others 2 3 Sukhdev Singh vs Bhagatram  1 SCC 421 1093 of 1978 but I regret my inability to agree with him as in my view both the appeals deserve to be dismissed
Judges and lawyers always clamour for legislative simplicity and when as is the case here legislative simplicity is writ large on the concerned provision and the text of the provision is unambiguous and not susceptible to dual interpretation it would not be permissible for a Court by indulging i nuances semantics and interpretative acrobatics to reach the opposite conclusion than is warranted by its plain text and make it plausible or justify it by spacious references to the object purpose or scheme of the legislation or in the name of judicial activism
Election of Councillors to the Municipal Corporation of city of Nagpur was held on January 29 1975 whereat form ward no 34 Manohar Samarth Appellant in Civil Appeal NO Marotrao Jadhav and three others being respondent 1 to 4 in the said Civil Appeal were the contesting candidates
After the polling was over Manohar Samarth hereinafter called the returned candidate was declared successful he having secured 1428 votes as against 943 secured by Marotrao Jadhav 849 by respondent no 2 572 by respondent No 3 and 748 by respondent No 4
Marotrao Jadhav hereinafter referred to as the election petitioner  challenged the election of the returned candidate from the said ward by filling an election petition being Election petition No 6 of 1975 before the District Judge Nagpur under section 428 of the Corporation Act principally on the ground that the returned candidate being a Development officer and a salaried employee in the Life Insurance Corporation for short the LIC had neither sought nor obtained the Chairman s permission for offering his candidature and as such was disqualified from standing at the election under section 15 g of the Corporation 1960
The election was also challenged on ground of corrupt practices communal propaganda and distribution of malicious and defamatory hand bills on the part of the returned candidate
In his written statement the returned candidate refuted all the grounds on which his election was challenged
On the evidence and materials produced by the parties the learned Assistant Judge
who heard the matter came to the conclusion that he returned candidate who was working as a Development officer in the LIC was its whole time salaried employee and since he had contested the election without seeking or obtaining the permission of the Chairman of the LIC he suffered a disqualification under section 15g of the 10 1094 Corporation Act read with Regulation 25 4 of the LIC staff Regulations 1960 which vitiated his election
On the other ground of challenge namely commission of corrupt practices and indulgence in communal propaganda and distribution of malicious and defamatory hand bills a finding was recorded in favour of the returned candidate and against the election petitioner
In the result by her order dated December 21 1976 the learned Assistant Judge set aside the election of the returned candidate as being null and void and acting under s428 2 granted a further declaration that since the election petitioner had secured second highest votes he shall be deemed to have been elected as a Councillor from that ward
The decision of the learned Assistant Judge was challenged by the returned candidate by filing a writ petition Special Civil Application No 1 of 1977 before the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court
The High Court confirmed the view of the learned Assistant Judge that the returned candidate suffered a disqualification which vitiated his election but quashed the declaration granted in favour of the election petitioner on the ground that though he had secured the next highest votes there was no material on record from which it could be inferred that had the disqualification of the returned candidate been known to the voters they the voters would have definitely returned him as their Councillor to the Municipal Corporation from Ward No 34
The High Court therefore directed that a fresh election to fill the vacancy be held in accordance with law
Civil Appeal No 240677 has been preferred by the returned candidate challenging the High Court s view on his disqualification while Civil Appeal No 35678 has been filed by the election petitioner against that part of the decision which has gone against him
Dealing first with Civil Appeal No 24061977 counsel for the returned candidate the appellant pressed only one contention in support of the appeal
He contended that Regulation 254 framed under section 49b  bb of the LIC Act 1956 upon proper construction was 2 mere prohibition and not a measure laying down any disqualification
According to him the LIC Staff Regulations 1960 merely laid down the terms and conditions of service of the staff of the LIC and Regulation 254 prescribes a code of conduct for the staff a breach whereof would entail any of the penalties specified in Regulation
39 and since in the instant case the returned candidate had offered his candidature without seeking or obtaining permission of the Chairman he could be said to have committed a breach of one of the terms or conditions of his service for which any penalty ranging 1095 from censure to dismissal could be imposed upon him but the purpose A of Regulation 25 4 was not the enactment of any disqualification and as such the terms of s15g of the Corporation Act were not answered by the mere fact that the returned candidate was an employee of the LIC and was subject to Regulation 254
Reference was also made to Regulation 2 and provision iii to Regulation 254 B to lend support to the said contention
It was pointed out that Regulation No 2 made the Staff Regulations applicable to every wholetime salaried employee of the LIC in India unless otherwise provided by the terms of any contract
agreement or letter of appointment which Clearly suggested that certain whole time salaried employees of the LIC whose terms and conditions of service were other wise governed by a contract agreement or letter of appointment would outside the purview of these Regulations and the prohibition contained in Regulation 254 would not apply to such employees similarly it was pointed out that the prohibition under Regulation 254 itself was not absolute inasmuch as under proviso iii thereto the employee could offer himself as a candidate for election to a local authority with the permission of the Chairman
It was contended that these aspects also showed that the prohibition under Regulation 254 did not amount to a disqualification
In support of the construction sought to be placed on Regulation 254 counsel relied upon two decisions one of the Calcutta High Court in Md Sarfatulla Sarkar vs Surja Kumar Mondal and orsl and the other a Full Bench decision of the Punjab  Haryana High Court in Uttam Singh vs section Kripal Singh  Anr2 on the other hand counsel for the election petitioner first respondent supported the view of the High Court that Regulation 254 read with section 15g of the Corporation Act clearly amounted to a disqualification or ineligibility which vitiated the election of the returned candidate
He relied upon the Madras High Court s decision in G Narayanaswamy Naidu vs C Krishnamurthi  Anr3 and urged that the Calcutta decision was clearly distinguishable and as against the Full Bench decision of Punjab and Haryana High Court which merely followed the Calcutta decision he pressed the Madras High Court s view for our acceptance
According to him the aspects emerging from Regulation 2 and proviso iii to Regulation 254 had no relevance to the issue of the proper construction of Regulation 254 read with section 15g of the Corporation Act
He pointed out that cases falling within the two aspects emerging from Regulation 2 and proviso iii to Regulation 254 were l A T R 2 A 1
R 3 r L R 1096 completely outside the prohibition while the real issue was whether or not a case properly falling within the prohibition contained in Regulation 254 would entail a disqualification or ineligibility
Since the question turns upon the proper construction of Regulation 254 of the LIC Staff Regulation 1960 read with section 15g of the Corporation Act it will be desirable to set out the material provisions
Section 15 of the Corporation Act enumerates in cls
a to i the several  disqualifications of candidates for election and section 15g which is by way of a residuary provision runs thus 15
No person shall be eligible for election selection or or appointment as a Councillor if he g is under the provisions of any law for the time being in force ineligible to be a member of any local authority Provided that a disqualification under clause e f g or i may be removed by an order of The Provincial Government in this behalf
 Regulation 254 together with proviso iii runs thus 25
Prohibition against participation in Politics and standing for Elections 4 No employee shall canvass or otherwise interfere or use his influence in connection with or take part in an election to any legislature or local authority Provided that iii the Chairman may permit an employee to offer himself as a candidate for election to a local authority and the employee so permitted shall not be deemed to have contravened the pro visions of this regulation
 It may be stated that Regulation 39 provides for imposition of several penalties ranging from censure to dismissal upon an employee if he were to commit a breach of any of the Staff Regulations
The simple question is whether Regulation 254 read with section 15g constitutes or amounts to an ineligibility or disqualification for a whole time salaried employee of LIC to become a member of any local authority
In other words is Regulation 254 a provision of law for the time being in force that renders a whole time salaried 1097 employee of LIC ineligible to be a member of the Municipal Corporation within the meaning of section 15g of the Corporation Act Before I consider this question of construction certain positions which were not disputed during the course of the arguments may be stated
It was not disputed that at the relevant time that is at the time of the nomination as well as the time of election the returned candidate was a whole time salaried employee of the LIC working as its Development officer and as such he was subject to the Staff Regulations
It was also not disputed that under proviso iii to Regulation 254 he did not obtain the permission from the Chairman of the LIC for the purpose of offering himself as a candidate at the election of the Municipal Corporation
It was further not disputed that Regulation 254 being a statutory regulation framed under section 492 of the LIC Act
1956 had the force of law
Further though before the High Court a contention was strenuously urged that the words any lay for the time being in force occurring in section 15g must in the law which ought to have been in existence at the commencement date of the Corporation Act such a contention was not pressed before us and it was conceded by the counsel for the returned candidate that the said words would include Regulation 254 as being the law for the time being in force
Indeed the concession in my view was rightly made by counsel for the returned candidate for the words any law for the time being in force occurring in section 15g Must in the context refer to the law in force at the relevant time that is at the time of nomination or election when the question of disqualification or ineligibility arises for consideration
It is in light of these undisputed position that the question set out above will have to be considered
The contention is that on proper construction Regulation 254 merely creates a prohibition but does not amount to a disqualification or ineligibility because the Staff Regulations were and are intended to define the terms and conditions of service of the employees of the LIC it is not possible to accept such construction for more than one reason
Tn the first place the heading of the Regulation clearly shows that it deals with the topic and intends to provide a prohibition against standing for election
Secondly cl
4 of the said Regulation in plain and express terms provides No employee shall r  take part in an election to any local authority
In other words by using negative language it puts a complete embargo subject to proviso iii upon every employee from taking part in an election to any local authority
How else could a disqualification or ineligibility be worded  To say that Regulation 254 merely creates a prohibition against standing for election but does not create any ineligibility or disqualification to stand for an election is merely to quibble at words
14 409 SCI79 1098 In my view there is no distinction between a legal prohibition against a person standing for election and the imposition of an ineligibility or disqualification upon him so to stand
It is true that the purpose of framing Staff Regulations was and is to define the terms and conditions of service of the employees of the LIC and that being the purpose it is bu
natural that a provision for imposition of penalties for breach of such Regulations would also be made therein
In fact the validity of such prohibition contained in the concerned Regulation rests upon the postulate that it prescribes a code of conduct for the employees and as such it would be within the Regulation making power conferred on the LIC under section 49 of the LIC Act 1956 but while prescribing a code of conduct the Regulation simultaneously creates a disqualification or ineligibility for the employee to stand for election to any local authority
Moreover to construe Regulation 254 as merely prescribing a code of conduct breach whereof is made punishable under Regulation 39 and not imposing a disqualification or ineligibility upon the employee to stand for election to a local authority would amount to rendering a residuary provision like section 15g in the Corporation Act otiose
In my view therefore on proper construction Regulation 254 read with section 15g of the Corporation Act imposes a disqualification or creates an ineligibility for the employee of LIC to stand for election to any local authority
Reliance on the aspects emerging from Regulation 2 and proviso S iii to Regulation 254 cannot avail the returned candidate at all for it is obvious that cases falling within those aspects are completely taken out of the prohibition contained in Regulation 254 while the real issue is whether a case properly falling within the prohibition contained in Regulation 254 on its proper construction entails a disqualificationineligibility or not  In fact proviso iii to Regulation 254 is similar to the proviso to section 15 of the Corporation Act under which a disqualification under cls
e f g or i could be removed by an order of the Provincial Government in that behalf and obviously when any one of those disqualifications is removed by an order of the Provincial Government under the proviso the case would clearly be outside section 15
In other words the two aspects i that certain employees under Regulation 2 would not be governed by the Staff Regulations at all and would not therefore be hit by the prohibition and ii that upon permission being obtained from the Chairman under proviso iii the employee would be outside the prohibition have no bearing on the question of proper construction of Regulation 254
Turning to the decided cases it may be observed that a construction similar to the one which I have placed on Regulation 254 of 1099 LIC Staff Regulations 1960 was placed by the Madras High Court in a similar LIC Staff Regulation No 29 read with Article 1911 e of the Constitution in G Narayanaswamy Naidu s case supra and the very argument that Regulation 29 was merely a rule of conduct prescribed for the employees of the LIC the breach of which might result in disciplinary action being taken against them but it did not render the employees disqualified For standing for election was in terms negatived
At page 549 of the report the relevant observations run thus Though the point is not free from difficulty we have reached the conclusion that this argument of the respondents must be rejected
We see no distinction between a legal prohibition against a person standing for election and the imposition of a disqualification on him so to stand
It might be that the object of the regulation was to ensure that the employees of the Corporation bestowed undivided attention upon their duties as such employees but this does not militate against the prohibition operating as a disqualification
If a person is disabled by a lawful command of the Legislature issued directly or mediately from standing for election it is tantamount to disqualifying him from so standing
We therefore hold that regulation 29 framed by the Life Insurance Corporation constituted a law which disqualification C Krishnamurthi  from standing for election under Article 1911e of the Constitution Though the observations have been prefaced by the words though the point is not free from difficulty it seems to me clear that those words were used out of deference to the arguments advanced by learn ed counsel for the respondents in that case but the Court construed the Regulation as imposing a disqualification because its plain language warranted it without getting boggled by the object or purpose of the staff Regulation that had been framed under section 492 of the LIC Act 1956
The Calcutta decision in Md Sarafatulla Sarkar s case supra relied on by the counsel for the returned candidate is clearly distinguishable
It was a case dealing with an election to Union Board under the Bengal Village Self Government Act 5 of 1919 and the question was whether Rule 23 of the Government Servants  Conduct Rules 1926 made under Rule 48 of the Civil Services Classification
1100 Control and Appeal Rules framed by the Secretary of State under section 96B of the Government of India Act 1915 19 imposed a disqualification or
a Government servant against offering himself for an election to one of the bodies mentioned in Rule 23 and the Calcutta High Court took the view that it did not so as to render his election invalid but that the prohibition contained therein was of a nature of a personal bar which could be overstepped by the Government servant at his own peril as regards his membership of a service under the Government must be pointed out that section 10 A of the Bengal Village Self Government Act S of 1919 which provided disqualifications for candidates from being a member of Union Board did not contain either a specific disqualification for a Government servant or any residuary provision similar to section 15g of the Corporation Act 1948 or Article 1911e of the Constitution and it was in the absence of any such provision either specific or residuary that the Calcutta High Court considered the impact of the prohibition contained in Rule 23 of the Government Servants  Conduct Rules
In fact this aspect of the matter has been emphasised by the learned Chief Justice in para 5 of his judgment where he observed The learned Single Judge considered it immaterial that the holding of a post under the Government had not mentioned as one of the disqualifications for election in section 10A Bengal Village Self Government Act 1919 because in his view the enumeration of disabilities in that section was not exhaustive
 In other words it is clear that had section 10A of the Bengal Village Self Government Act contained either a specific disqualification or a residuary provision of the type that is to be found in section 15g of the Corporation Act 1948 or Article 1911 e of the Constitution Rule 23 it appears might have been differently construed
Construing Rule 23 by itself the learned Chief Justice came to the conclusion that the prohibition therein was directed at personal conduct and not at right owned by the Government servant concerned
In the instant case Regulation 254 has to be read with section 15g of the Corporation Act 1948
The learned Chief Justice referred to Rule 8 of the said Rules which forbade a Gazetted officer to lend money to any person possessing land within the local limits of his authority and pointed out that even so if a Gazetted officer were to lend money to a person of the specified category none could say that the officer shall not be entitled to recover the amount of the loan
The test so suggested by the learned Chief Justice may hold good if Rule 8 sim 1101 pliciter were to be construed
But if in addition to Rule 8 there A was simultaneously in operation a usury law which made certain loans irrecoverable including a loan prohibited by any law for the time being in force then obviously Rule 8 read with such usury law would render the loan given by the Gazetted officer irrecoverable
Similar would be the position regarding the two Regulations No 32 and No 33 referred to by my learned brother Krishna Iyer J in his judgment
Therefore the Calcutta decision is clearly distinguishable mainly on the ground that Rule 23 of the Government Servants  Conduct Rules standing by itself came up for construction before that Court in the absence of any specific disqualification or a general disqualification of a residuary nature being enacted in section 10A of the Bengal Village Self Government Act 1919
The Full Bench decision of the Punjab  Haryana High Court in my view merely follows the reasoning of the Calcutta decision without considering The distinction indicated above and therefore it is clear to me that the construction placed by that High Court on Regulation 254 of the LIC Staff Regulations 1960 read with Article 911e of the Constitution should be rejected as an erroneous one and the construction placed by the Madras High Court deserves to be approved
Having regard to the above discussion I am clearly of the view that the returned candidate suffered a disqualification or rather was under an ineligibility under Regulation 254 read with s 15g of the Corporation Act 1948 which vitiated his election if he were keen on active participation in the democratic process it was open to him to do so by either resigning his post or obtaining the Chairman s permission before offering his candidature but his right as a citizen to keep up the Republic s vitality by active participation in the political process cannot be secured to him by a purpose oriented construction of the relevant Regulation
His appeal therefore deserves to be dismissed
Before parting with this appeal I feel constrained as a part of my duty to give vent to my feelings of discomfiture and distress over one thing which is exercising my mind for a considerable time in this Court
In all humility I would like to point out that prefaces and exordial exercises perorations and sermons as also theses and philosophies political or social whether couched in flowery language or language that needs simplification have ordinarily no proper place in judicial pronouncements
In any case day in and day out indulgence in these in almost every judgment irrespective of whether the subject or the context or the occasion demands it or not serves little purpose and surely such indulgence becomes indefensible when matters are to be disposed of in terms of settlement arrived at between 1102 the parties or for the sake of expounding the law while rejecting the approach to the Court at the threshold on preliminary grounds such as non maintainability laches and the like
I am conscious that judicial activism in many cases is the result of legislative inactivity and the role of a Judge as a lawmaker has been applauded but it has been criticised also lauded when it is played within the common law tradition but criticised when it is carried to extremes
Lord Radcliffe in his address titled The Lawyer and His Times  delivered at the Sesquicentennial Convocation of the Harvard Law School observed thus do not believe that it was ever an important discovery that judges are in some sense lawmakers
It is much more important to analyse the relative truth of an idea so far reaching because unless the analysis is strict and its limitations observed there is real danger in its elaboration
We cannot run the risk of finding the archetypal image of the judge confused in men s minds with the very different image of the legislator
 And the risk involved is the possible destruction of the image of the judge as objective impartial erudite and experienced declarer of the law That is which lies deeper in the consciousness of civilization than the image of the lawmaker propounding what are avowedly
new rules of human conduct
Personally I think that judges will serve the public interest better if they Keep quiet about their legislative function
No doubt they will discreetly contribute to changes in the law because as I have said they cannot do otherwise even if they would
But the judge who shows his hand who advertises what he is about may indeed show that he is a strong spirit unfettered by the past but I doubt very much whether he is not doing more harm to the general confidence in the law as a constant safe in the hands of the judges than he is doing good to the law s credit as a set of rules nicely attuned to the sentiment of the day
 Turning to the election petitioner s appeal CA No 356 of 1978 I am in complete agreement with the view expressed by the High Court that the declaration granted to him by the learned Assistant Judge under section 4282 of the Corporation Act 1948 should never have been granted
It is true that the election petitioner secured the next highest number of votes but that by itself would not entitle him to get a declaration in his favour that he be deemed to leave been duly elected as a Councillor from Ward No 34
I may point out 1103 that section 4282 is not that absolute as was suggested by counsel for the election petitioner for the relevant part of sub section
2 provides that if the election of the returned candidate is either declared to be null and void or is set aside the District Court shall direct that the candidate if any in whose favour next highest number of valid votes is recorded after the said person or after all the persons who have returned at the said election and against whose election no cause or objection is found shall be deemed to have been elected
 The underlined words give jurisdiction to the District Court to deny the declaration to the candidate who has secured the next best votes The High Court has rightly taken the view that there was no material on record to show how the voters who had voted for the returned candidate would have cast their votes had they known about the disqualification
Therefore this appeal also deserves to be dismissed
In the result I propose that both the appeals should be dismissed with no order as to costs in each
PATHAK J Manohar Nathurao Samrath was a Development officer in the service of the Life Insurance corporation of India
His employment was governed by the Life Insurance Corporation of India Staff Regulations 1960 shortly referred to as the Staff Regulations Desirous of being a Councillor in the Corporation of the City of Nagpur to which I shall refer as the Nagpur Corporation he stood for election to that office and was elected
But Regulation 254 of the Staff Regulations forbade him from taking part in any election to a local authority
He could have taken part in the election if he had sought and obtained the permission of the Chairman of the Life Insurance Corporation of India under the third proviso to Regulation 254
He did not obtain permission
His election as Councillor was challenged by an election petition filed by an unsuccessful candidate Marotrao
It was said that Samrath was ineligible to stand for election because of section 15g of the City of Nagpur corporation Act 1948 to be referred hereinafter as the Nagpur Corporation Act 5 read with Regulation 254 of the Staff Regulations The ground found favour with the learned Assistant Judge trying the election petition and she declared the election void
She also granted a declaration that Marotrao was the duly elected candidate
Samrath filed a writ petition in the Bombay High Court
The High Court agreed with the learned Assistant Judge that Samrath was not eligible for election and that his election was void
But it also set aside the declaration granted in favour of Marotrao and directed a fresh election
The Judgment of the High Court has been challenged by these two appeals one by Samrath and the other by Marotrao
1104 The central question is whether Samrath is ineligible for election as a Councillor of the Nagpur Corporation because of Section 15g of the Nagpur Corporation Act read with Regulation 254 of the Staff Regulations
Section 15g of the Nagpur Corporation Act provides 15
No person shall be eligible for election as a Councillor if he     g is under the provisions of any law for the time being in force ineligible to be a member of any local authority    
And Regulation 254 of the Staff Regulations declares 25 1    2    3    4 No employee shall canvass or otherwise interfere or use his influence in connection with or take part in an election to any legislature or local authority
Provided that i    ii   iii the Chairman may permit an employee to offer him self as a candidate for election to a local authority and the employee so permitted shall not be deemed to have contravened the provisions of this regulation
The Nagpur Corporation Act contains a number of provisions concerned with holding elections to the Nagpur Corporation
Sections 9 to 22 deal with various matters electoral roll the qualification of candidates disqualification of candidates term of office filling up of casual vacancies and so on
There is an entire Code of election law
And Section 15 is one of its provisions
Now section 15 of the Nagpur Corporation Act declares a person ineligible for election as a Councillor on any one of several grounds
He may be ineligible be cause he is not a citizen of India that is to say he lacks in point of legal status
He may also be ineligible in point of lack of capacity defined by reference to disqualifying circumstances for example he may have been adjudged by a competent court to be of unsound mind
 1105 The disqualification may be found by nature of clause g under the provisions of any subsisting law
But the law must provide that he is ineligible to be a member of any local authority
The law must deal with ineligibility for membership and in the context of section 15 that must be ineligibility for election
It must be a law concerned with elections
Clause g is a residual clause not uncommonly found wherever a provision of an election law sets forth specified category of disqualified or ineligible person and thereafter includes a residual clause leaving the definition of remaining categories of two other laws
These other laws must also be election laws
An example is the Representation OF the People Act 1951 which is relevant to Article 1021e and Article 191le of the Constitution
Since Section 15 of the Nagpur Corporation Act is a provision of the election law clause g must be so construed that the law providing for ineligibility contemplated therein must also be of the same nature that is to say election law
Regulation 254 of the Staff Regulations is not a law dealing with elections
Chapter III of the Staff Regulations in which Regulation 25 is found deals with conduct discipline and appeals in regard to employees of the Life Insurance Corporation of India
A conspectus of the provisions contained in the Chapter from sections 20 to SO shows that it deals with nothing else
This is a body of provisions defining and controlling the conduct of employees in order to ensure efficiency and discipline in the Corporation and providing for penalties Section 39 against erring employees
Regulation 25 prohibits participation in politics and standing for elections
Regulation 254 forbids an employee not only from taking part in an election to any legislature or local authority but also from canvassing or otherwise interfering or using his influence in connection with such an election
If he does he will be guilty of a breach of discipline punishable under Regulation 39
Regulation 254 is a norm of service discipline
In substance it is nothing else
Tn substance it is not a provision of election law
It cannot be construed as defined a ground of electoral ineligibility
All that it says to the employee is While you may be eligible for election to a legislature or local authority by virtue of your legal status or capacity you shall not exercise that right if you wish to conform to the discipline of your service The right to stand for election flows from the election law
Regulation 254 does not take away or abrogate the right it merely seeks to restrain the employee from exercising it in the interests of service discipline
If in fact the employee exercises the right he may be punished under Regulation 39 with any of the penalties visited on an employee a penalty which takes its colour from the relevance of em 1106 ployment and has nothing to do with the election law
No penalty under Chapter III of the Staff Regulations can provide for invalidating the election of all employee to a legislature or a local authority
That would be a matter for the election law
It is significant that when the restraint on standing for election imposed by Regulation 254 has to be removed it is by the Chairman of the Life Insurance Corporation of India under the third proviso
When he does so it is as a superior in the hierarchy of service concerned with service discipline
He does not do so as an authority concerned with elections
Therefore in my judgment Regulation 254 of the Staff Regulation is not a law within the contemplation of section 15g of the Nagpur Corporation Act
In reaching that view I find myself with regret unable to sub scribe to what has been observed by the Madras High Court in Narayanaswamy vs Krishnamurthil I would say that the Calcutta High Court in Sarafatulla Sarkar vs Surja Kumar Mondal  and the Punjab and Haryana High Court ill Uttam Singh vs section Kirpal Singh3 appear to have come a more accurate conclusion
Samrath must therefore succeed in his appeal
That being so Marotrao must fail in his
Samrath having been duly elected to the office of Councillor Marotrao cannot claim the same office for himself
In the result Civil Appeal No 2406 of 1977 is allowed and Civil Appeal No 356 of 1978 is dismissed
The judgment of the Bombay High Court is set aside and the election petition filed by Marotrao is dismissed
In the circumstances of the case the parties will bear their costs
ORDER By majority Civil Appeal No 2406 of 1977 is allowed
Civil Appeal No 35678 is dismissed unanimously
There will be no order as to costs in each of the appeals
VDK Ordered accordingly 1 I L R 2 A I R 3 A I R 1976 Pb  Haryana


Summary:
Clause g of Section 15 of the City of Nagpur Corporation Act 1948 lays down that no person shall be eligible for election as a Councillor if he is under the provisions of any law for the time being in force ineligible to he a member of any local authority
Under sub section 4 of the Life Insurance Corporation of India Staff Regulations 1960 No employee shall canvass or otherwise interfere or use his influence in connection with or take part in an election of any legislature or local authority
However proviso iii to the said sub section lays down that the Chairman may permit an employee to offer himself as a candidate for election to a local authority and the employee so permitted shall not be deemed to have contravened the provisions of the regulation so as to attract punishment under
Regulation 39 ibid
The appellant in CA 240677 and a returned candidate as a councillor from ward No 34 of Nagpur was an employee of the Life Insurance Corporation
The had not sought or got the Chairman s permission to stand for the election with the result the election petition filed by his nearest rival respondent 1 and appellant in CA 356 of 1978 on this sole ground of taboo Was accepted by the Court s below
The direction given by the trial court declaring respondent 1 and an elected candidate was however set aside by the High Court and hence CA 356 of 1978 against that part of the decision by respondent 1 in CA 240677
Allowing CA 240677 and dismissing CA 35678
the Court  HELD Per Krishna Iyer J 1
The impact of Regulation 254 is not to impose ineligibility on an LIC employee to be a member of a municipal Corporation
Its effect is not on the candidature but on the employment itself
The sole and whole object of Regulation 25 read with Regulation 39 is to lay down a rule of conduct for the LIC employees
Among the many things forbidden are for instance prohibition of acceptance of gifts or speculation in stocks and share
Obviously neither Regulation 32 can be read as invalidating a gift to an LIC employee under the law of gifts nor Regulation 33 as nullifying transfer of stocks and shares speculatively purchased by the LIC employee
Likewise Regulation 1079 25 while it does mandate that the employee shall not participate in an election 4 to a local authority cannot be read as nullifying the election or disqualifying the candidate
The contravention of the Regulation invites disciplinary action which may range from censure to dismissal 1088H 1089A B 1091G 2
Section 15g of the City of Nagpur Corporation Act 1948 relates to the realm of election law and eligibility to be a member of a local authority
Ineligibility must flow from specific provision of law designed to deny eligibility or to lay down disqualification1089 3
If a rule of conduct makes it undesirable objectionable or punishable for an employee to participate in election to a local authority it is a distortion even an exaggeration out of proportion of that provision to extract out of it a prohibition of a citizen s franchise to be a member in the shape of a disqualification from becoming a member of a local authority
The thrust of Regulation 25 is disciplinary and not disqualificatory
Its intent imposes its limit language used by a legislature being only a means of communicating its will in the given environment
This is clear from the fact that the Chairman is of the power under Proviso iii to Section 254 to permit such participation by an employee depending on the circumstances of each case
Even the range of punishment is variable
1089C E 4
There is no ground in public policy to support the plea to magnify the disciplinary prescription into a disenfranching taboo
To revere the word to reverse the sense is to do injustice to the art of interpretation
Permission is a word of wide import and may even survive the death of the person who permits
Equally clearly where a statute does not necessarily insist on previous permission it may be granted even later to have retrospective effect or permission once granted may be retracted
1089 H 1090A 5
The strictly literal construction may not often be logical if the context indicates a contrary legislative intent
Courts are not victims of verbalism but are agents of the functional success of legislation given flexibility of meaning if the law will thereby hit the target intended by the law maker
A policy oriented understanding of a legal provision which does not do violence to the text or the context gains preference as against a narrow reading of the words used
So viewed the core purpose of Regulation 254 is not to clamp down disqualifications regarding elections but to lay down disciplinary forbiddance on conduct of government servants qua government servants contravention of which would invite punishment
This is a purpose oriented interpretation
1087H 1088A 1090E Dr
Hutton vs Phillips 45 Del 156 160 70A 2d 15 17 1949 quoted with approval
Sarafatulla Sarkar vs Surja Kumar Mondal AIR 1955 Cal
382 DB Uttam Singh vs section Kripal Singh AIR 1976 Punj Har 176 approved
Narayanaswamy Naidu vs Krishnamurthy and Anr
ILR  explained 6
Another persuassive factor based on a broader constitutional principle supporting the semantic attribution is this  The success of a democracy to 1080 tourniquet  excess of authority depends on citizen participation
An inert citizenry indifferent to the political process is an enemy of the Republic s vitality
Indeed absolutism thrives on inaction of the members of the polity
Therefore activist involvement in various aspects of public affairs by as many citizens as can be persuaded to interest themselves is a sign of the health and strength of our democratic system
Local self Government and adult franchise give constitutional impetus to the citizens to take part in public administration of course this does not mean that where a plain conflict of interests between holding an office and taking part in the political affairs of government exists a disqualification cannot be imposed in public interest
The rule is participation the exception exclusion
Viewed from that angle if government servant or an employee of the LIC participate in local administration or other election it may well be that he may forfeit his position as government servant or employment if dual devotion is destructive of efficiency as employee and be subject to disciplinary action a matter which depends on a given milieu and potential public mischief
1091C F 7
In election law a defeated candidate cannot claim a seat through an election petition merely out of speculative possibilities of success
1092B 8
It is true that there is no common law rule applicable in this area and election statutes have to be strictly construed but that does not doctrinally drive the Ccurt to surrender to bizarre verbalism when a different construction may inject reasonableness into the provision
Section 428 of the Corporation Act aims at sense and when a plurality of contestants are in the run other than the one whose selection is set aside predictability of the next highest becomes a misty venture
The rule in section 428 contains the corrective in such situations and the pregnant expression against whose election no cause or objection is found gives jurisdiction to the Court to deny the declaration by the next highest and to direct a fresh election when the constituency will speak
1092C E Pyale Saheb Gulzar Chhotumiyan Sawazi vs Dashrath Wasudeo and Ors
1977 Mah
LJ p 246 approved
Sukhdev Singh vs Bhagatram 19751 3 SC R 619 1975 I SCC 421 held inapplicable
Per Tulzapurkar J contra 1
The words any law for the time being in force occurring in Section 15g of the City of Nagpur Corporation Act 1948 in the context refers to the law in force at the relevant time that is at the time of nomination or election when the question of disqualification or ineligibility arises for consideration
On proper construction Regulation 254 of the LI C Staff Regulations 1960 read with section 15g of the Corporation Act imposes a disqualification on or creates an ineligibility for the employees of Life Insurance Corporation to stand for election to any local authority
1097D E a In the first place the heading of the Regulation clearly shows that it deals with the topic and intends to provide a prohibition against standing for election
Secondly cl
4 of the said Regulation in plain and express terms provides No employee shall  take part in an election to any local authority
In other words by using negative language it puts a complete 1081 embargo subject to proviso iii upon every employee from taking part in an election to any local authority
1097F H b To say That Regulation 254 merely creates a prohibition against standing for election but does not create any ineligibility or disqualification to stand for an election is merely to a quibble at words
There s no distinction between a legal prohibition against a person standing for election and the imposition of an ineligibility or disqualification upon him so to stand
1097H 1098A c It is true that the purpose of framing Staff Regulations was and is to decline the terms and conditions of service of the employees of the LIC and that being the purpose it is but natural that a provision for imposition of penalties four breach of such Regulations would also be made therein
In fact the validity of such prohibition contained in the concerned Regulation rests upon the postulate that it prescribes a code of conduct for the employees and as such it would be within the Regulation making power conferred on the LIC under section 49 of the LIC Act 1956 but while prescribing a code of Conduct the Regulation simultaneously creates a disqualification or ineligibility for the employee to stand for election to any local authority
1098A C d To construe Regulation 254 as merely prescribing a code of conduct breach whereof is made punishable under Regulation 39 and not imposing a disqualification or
ineligibility upon the employees to stand for election to a local authority would amount to rendering a residuary provision like section 15g in the Corporation Act otiose
1098C D 3
The cases falling within the aspects emerging from Regulation  and proviso iii to Regulation 254 are completely taken out of the prohibition contained in Regulation 254
Proviso iii to Regulation 254 is similar to the proviso tc
section 15 of the Corporation Act under which a disqualification under cls
e f g or i could be removed by an order of the Provincial Government in that behalf and obviously when any one of those disqualifications is removed by an order of the Provincial Government under the proviso the case would clearly be outside section 15
Tn other words the two aspects i that certain employees under Regulation 2 would not be governed by the Staff Regulations at all and would not therefore be hit by the prohibition and ii that upon permission being obtained from the Chairman under proviso iii the employee would be outside the prohibition have no bearing on the questions of proper construction of Regulation 25 4
1098E F In the instant case the returned candidate suffered a disqualification or rather was under an ineligibility under Regulation 254 read with section 15 g of the Corporation Act 1948 which vitiated his election if he were keen on active participation in the democratic process it was open to him to do so by either resigning his post or obtaining the Chairman s permission before offering his candidature but his right as a citizen to keep up the Republic s vitality by active participation in the political process cannot be secured to him by a purpose orientated construction of the relevant Regulation 1011D F G Narayanaswamy Naidu vs C Krishnamurthy and Anr
ILR  explained and approved
13 409 SCI79 1082 Md Sarafatulla Sarkar vs Surja Kumar Mondal AIR distinguished
Uttam singh vs section Kripal Singh and Anr AIR 1976 P HELD FURTHER Concurring of 1978 should be dismissed
The declaration granted to the appellant by the learned Assistant Judge under section 4282 of the Corporation Act 1948 should never have been granted
It is true that the election petitioner secured the next highest number of votes but that by itself would not entitle him to meet a declaration in his favour that he be deemed to have been duly elected as a Councillor from Ward No 34
1102G H 5
Section 4282 is not that absolute for the relevant part of sub section
2 provides that if the election of the returned candidate is either
declared to be null and void or is set aside the District Court shall direct that the candidate if any in whose favour next highest number of valid votes is recorded after the said person or after all the persons who have returned at the said election and against whose election the case or objection is found shall be deemed to have been elected
The words against whose election no cause or objection is found give jurisdiction to the District Court to deny the declaration to the candidate who has secured the next best votes
1103A B 6
The High Court has rightly taken the view that there was no material on record to show how the voters who had voted for the returned candidate would have Cast their votes had they known about the disqualification
1103B C Observation 1
Judges and lawyers always clamour for legislative simplicity and when legislative simplicity is writ large on the concerned provision and the text of the provision is unambiguous and not susceptible to dual interpretation it
would not be permissible for a court by indulging in nuances semantics and interpretative acrobatics to reach the opposite conclusion than is warranted by its plain text and make it plausible or justify it by spacious references to the object purpose or scheme of the legislation or in the name of judicial activism
1093A B 2
Prefaces and exordial exercises perorations and sermons as also theses almost every judgment irrespective of whether the subject or the context or language that needs simplification have ordinarily no proper place in judicial pronouncements
In any case
day in and day out indulgence in these in almost every judgment irrespective of whether the subject or the context or the occasion demands it or not serves little purpose and surely such indulgence becomes indefensible when matters are to be disposed of in terms of settlement arrived at between the parties or for the sake of expounding the law while rejecting the approach to the Court at the threshold on preliminary grounds such as non maintainability laches and the like
Judicial activism in many cases is the result of legislative inactivity and the role of a Judge as a law maker has been applauded but it has been criticised also lauded when it is played within the common law tradition but criticised when it is carried to extremes
1101F H 1102A B 1083 Pathak J Concurring 1
Section 15 of the Nagpur Corporation Act declares a person ineligible for election as a Councillor on any one of the several grounds
He may be ineligible because he is not a citizen of India that is the say he lacks in point of legal status
He may also be intelligible in point of lack of capacity defined by reference to disqualifying circumstances for example he may nave beer adjudged by a competent court to be of unsound mind
The disqualification 1 may be found by nature of clause g under the provisions of any subsisting law
But the law must provide that he is ineligible to be a member of any local authority
The law must deal with ineligibility for membership and in the context of section 15 that must be ineligibility for election
lt must be a law concerned with elections
Clause g is a residual clause
not uncommonly found wherever provision of an election law sets forth specified category of disqualified or ineligible person and thereafter includes a residual clause leaving the definition of remaining categories of the other laws
These other laws must also be election laws
An example is the Representation of the people Act 1951 which is relevant to Article 1021e and Article 191 Ie of the Constitution
Since section 15 of the Nagpur Corporation Act is a provision of the election law clause g must be so construed that the law providing for ineligibility contemplated therein must also be of the same nature that is to say election law
1104G H 1105A C 2
Regulation 254 of the Staff Regulations is not a law dealing with elections
Chapter III of the Staff Regulations in which Regulation 25 is found deals with conduct discipline and appeals  in regard to employees of the Life Insurance Corporation of India
A conspectus of the provision contained in the Chapter from section 20 to SO shows that it deals with nothing else
This is a body of provisions defining and controlling the conduct of employees in order to ensure efficiency and discipline in the Corporation and providing for penalties Section 39 against erring employees
Regulation 25 prohibits participation in politics and standing for elections
Regulation 254 forbids an employee not only from taking part in an election to any legislature or local authority but also from canvassing or otherwise interfering or using his influence in connection with such an election
If he does he will be guilty of a breach of discipline punishable under Regulation 39
Regulation 254 is a norm of discipline
In substance it is nothing else
In substance it is not a provision of
election law
It cannot be construed as defining a ground of electoral ineligibility
All that it says to the employee is  while you may be eligible for election to a legislature or local authority by virtue of your local status or capacity
you shall not exercise that right if you wish to conform to the discipline of your service 1105D G 3
The right to stand for election flows from the election law Regulation 254 does not take away or abrogate the right it merely seeks to restrain the employee from exercising it in the interest of service discipline
If in fact the employee exercises the right he may be punished under Regulation 39 with any of the penalties visited on an employee a penalty which takes its colour from the relevance of employment and has nothing to do with the election law
No penalty under Chapter III of the Staff Regulations can provide for invalidating the election of an employee to a legislature or a local authority
1105G H 1106A 1084 When the restraint on standing for election imposed by Regulation 254 has to be removed it is by the Chairman of the Life Insurance Corporation of India under the third proviso
When he does so it is as a superior in the hierarchy of service concerned with service discipline
He does not do so as an authority concerned with elections
Therefore Regulation 254 of the staff Regulations is not a law within the contemplation of Section 15g of the Nagpur Corporation Act
Samarth must therefore succeed in his appeal
That being so Marotrao must fail in his
Samarth having been duly elected to the office of Councillor Marotrao cannot claim the same office for himself
1106A CD G Narayanaswamy Naidu vs C Krishnamurthy  Anr
ILR 1958 Mad
S 13 disapproved
Md Sarafatulla sarkar vs Suraj Kumar Mandal AIR Uttam Singh vs
section Kirpal Singh AIR 1976 Punj
 Har 176 approved