1 WP 6918.2011 - [ J ] IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO. 6918 OF 2011 Smt. Latabai W/o Prakash Vibhute Age : 49 Yrs., Occ. Household, R/o : Walvad, Tq. Bhoom, Dist. Osmanabad. .... PETITIONER V E R S U S 1. The State of Maharashtra Through the State Election Commission, New Administrative Building, Opp. Mantralaya, Mumbai – 32. 2. The Collector, Osmanabad Dist. Osmanabad. 3. Tahsildar, Bhoom, Tq. Bhoom, Dist. Osmanabad. .... RESPONDENTS Mr. K.R.Doke, Advocate for the Petitioner. Mr. K.B. Choudhari, Addl. Govt. Pleader for State. CORAM :S.V. GANGAPURWALA, J. DATE OF JUDGMENT :14/09/2011 2 WP 6918.2011 - [ J ] ORAL JUDGMENT : 1. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. With the consent of the learned counsel for the parties, taken up for final hearing. 2. The petitioner had contested election of the Zilla Parishad constituency No. 8, Walwad, Tq. Bhoom, Dist. Osmanabad and was defeated in the said election. The petitioner did not submit the election expenses within 30 days as required under the statute but submitted late by 2-3 days. As such, on 03/08/2007 the petitioner was given show cause notice in that regard by the Tahsildar, Bhoom calling upon the petitioner to show cause why the election expenses were not submitted within stipulated period, else a criminal prosecution would be launched. The petitioner replied the said show cause notice along with medical certificate. Thereafter no action was taken against the petitioner. After a long slumber of four ( 4 ) years, the Collector issued a show cause notice dated 31/03/2011 pursuant to Section 15-B of the Maharashtra Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samities Act, 1961 [ For short, ‘ said Act ’ ] seeking explanation from the petitioner about the non disclosure of the election expenses within the stipulated period, else further enquiry would be made. The petitioner submitted his reply on 03/05/2011. Thereafter, vide the impugned order, the 3 WP 6918.2011 - [ J ] Collector, Osmanabad passed an order thereby disqualifying the petitioner for further period of five ( 5 ) years from being the member of the Zilla Parishad U/s 62-A ( 1 ) of the said Act. 3. Mr. Doke, the learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner had not contested the election of the Panchayat Samiti, as such the provisions of Section 62-A ( 1 ) of the said Act are not applicable. The petitioner has contested the election of Zilla Parishad constituency and at the most Section 15-B of the said Act would be applicable. The learned counsel contends that Section 15-B of the said Act came into force on 06/05/2010 and could not have been retrospectively made applicable to the elections held in the year 2007. According to the learned counsel, the impugned order is per se illegal and deserves to be set aside. 4. Mr. K.B.Choudhari, the learned Additional Govt. Pleader for the State contends that though the Section has been wrongly quoted i.e. Section 62-A (1) of the said Act, in fact the petitioner is disqualified by virtue of Section 15-B of the said Act. The said provision of Section 15-B of the said Act would be applicable to the elections held in the year 2007. As such, the order impugned does not 4 WP 6918.2011 - [ J ] suffer from any illegality. It is admitted that the petitioner failed to submit election expenses within the stipulated period. 5. Assuming that the Collector has wrongly referred to Section 62-A (1) of the said Act and the same should be read as Section 15-B of the said Act, still the said provision having been introduced in the statute on 06/05/2010, will not have retrospective effect so as to prejudicially affect the right of the petitioner. As on the date, when the elections were held, the said provision i.e. Section 15-B was not part of the statute. The said provision will be applicable for the elections held subsequent to the introduction of the said Section. 6. In light of the above, the impugned order can not be sustained and is set aside. 7. Rule is accordingly made absolute in terms of prayer clause ‘ C ’. No costs. [ S.V. GANGAPURWALA, J.] KNP/WP 6918.2011 - [ J ]