IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) THURSDAY, THE EIGHTEENTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE B.SESHASAYANA REDDY WRIT PETITION No.14205 of 2008 Between: Naralasetti Prakasa Rao, S/o Sri Vishnu Murthy, Municipal Vice Chairman & Municipal Chairperson (In-charge), Bapatla Municipality, R/o. 19-2-40, Ward No.31, Naralasettivari Palem, Bapatla, Guntur District. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Commissioner and Director of Municipal Administration, Government of A.P., 640, A.C. Guards, Hyderabad. 2 The Municipal Commissioner, Bapatla Municipality, Bapatla, Guntur District. .....RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Aﬃdavit ﬁled herein the High Court may be pleased to issue a writ or order or direction more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus declaring that the inaction on part of the respondents in making payment of honorarium and other allowances including vehicle allowance admissible to the post of Chairperson, payable to the petitioner, who is acting as In- charge Chairperson of Bapatla Municipality, Guntur District, w.e.f. 22.12.2006 is highly illegal, improper, unjust, arbitrary, violation of Articles 14 and 300-A of Constitution of India, and as a consequential direction to direct the respondents to make payment of honorarium and other allowances including vehicle allowance admissible to the Chairperson, payable to the petitioner, who is acting as In-charge Chairperson of Bapatla Municipality, Guntur District w.e.f. 22.12.2006, forthwith. Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.P.PHALGUNA RAO Counsel for Respondent No.1: GP FOR MUNCIPAL ADMN.& URBAN DEV. Counsel for Respondent No.2: MR. S. NAGESWARA REDDY The Court made the following: THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE B.SESHASAYANA REDDY WRIT PETITION No.14205 of 2008 ORDER: This writ petition has been ﬁled by Naralasetti Prakasa Rao, assailing the inaction of the respondents on his representation with regard to payment of honorarium for acting as In-charge Chairperson of Bapatla Municipality, Guntur District, with effect from 22.12.2006. The petitioner was initially elected as Councilor of Ward No.31 of Bapatla Municipality and thereafter he became Vice- Chairman of the said Municipality on 30.09.2005. One K. Mariadas, who was elected as Councilor of 8th Ward, was thereafter became Chairperson of the Municipality. His election came to be set aside in W.P.No.17853 of 2006. Consequent on the election of the said Mariadas being set aside, the petitioner acted as In-charge Chairperson with eﬀect from 22.12.2006. He submitted a representation on 08.08.2007 to the Commissioner and Director of Municipal Administration, Government of A.P. – 1st respondent, claiming honorarium for holding the additional charge of the oﬃce of the Chairperson. Since his representation did not yield any fruitful result, he approached this Court invoking jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. When the writ petition came up for admission, Sri S. Nageswara Reddy, learned Standing Counsel for Bapatla Municipality, received notice on behalf of the 2nd respondent. Heard the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner and the learned Standing Counsel appearing for the 2nd respondent. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submits that under Section 54 of the Andhra Pradesh Municipalities Act, 1965 (for short ‘the Act’), the Vice-Chairperson, on whom functions of the Chairperson devolved under Sub-Section (2) of Section 50 of the Act, is entitled to honorarium and conveyance allowance payable to the Chairperson. For better appreciation, I may refer to Sub-Section (2) of Section 50 and Section 54 of the Act, and they are thus: “Sub-Section (2) of Section 50: If the Chairperson has been continuously absent from jurisdiction for more than ten days or incapacitated for more than ten days, his functions shall, during such absence or incapacity, devolve on the Vice- Chairperson.” “Section 54: Payment of honorarium and conveyance allowance to Chairperson and conveyance allowance to members:- For any municipality, the Government may, after consultation with the council, sanction out of the municipal fund, payment of honorarium and conveyance allowance to the Chairperson or the Vice-Chairperson on whom the functions of the Chairperson devolve under sub-section (2) of Section 50, as the case may be, and conveyance allowance to every member, at such rates as may be prescribed,- Provided that the conveyance allowance shall be payable to the Chairperson or Vice-Chairperson, as the case may be, in case he maintains and uses a motor car.” It is explicit from the above two provisions that the Vice-Chairperson holding the oﬃce of the Chairperson in the circumstances stated in Sub-Section (2) of Section 50 of the Act is entitled to certain allowances. In that view of the matter, the respondents are directed to consider the representation submitted by the petitioner with regard to grant of allowances for holding the oﬃce of the Chairperson, Bapatla Municipality, and pass appropriate orders, within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. With the above directions, the writ petition is disposed of. No order as to costs. ________________________ B. SESHASAYANA REDDY, J 18th September, 2008. IBL