El x IN WHE HON’BLE HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BI‘LASPUR w.P.(C)N0. W23 ‘ /2009 $§$§€i§i§ g§§€3§€ Konda Ram Sahu, S/o Shri Dukalu Ram Sahu, aged about 66 years, R/o Village—Jova, Tahsil 8r, District—Mahasamund (C.G.) VERSUS RESPONDENTS: l) /State of Chhattisgarh, Through : , Secretary - Panchayat, D.K.S. Bhawan Raipur (C.G.) Collector, Mahasamund, Distrtict—Mahasamund, (C.G.) ETITIONER 3) Chief Executive Officer, Janpad Mahasamund, Panchayat, District—Mahasamund (C.G.) 4) Gram Panchayat Jova, Through: Secretary, Tahsil 86 District— Mahasamund (C.G.) WRIT PETITION UNDER ARTICLE 226 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA Dm“~ _ W é/ av HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR WRIT PETITION (C) No. 7123 of 2009 PETITIONER : Konda Ram Sahu. VERSUS RESPONDENTS z State of Chhattisgarh & Others. Post for pronouncement of order on ”15.. 32y of July, 2010. \s * 3w- I ' Statish K. Agnihotr§ r u'dge HIGHR COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR WRIT PETITION 1C! N0. 7123 of2009 PETITIONPR : Konda Ram Sahu. VERSUS RESPONDENW z State of Chhartisgarh & Others. WRIT PETITION UNDER ARTICLE 226 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF SB: Hon’ble Shri Satish K. Agnihotri, J. Present Shri R..Pradhan, Advacate for the petitioner. INDIA Shri P.K.Bhaduri, Panel Lawyer for the State/respondents 1&2. o R D E R (Delivered'on ”(HEW of July, 2010) Heard. Challenge in this petition is to the notice dated 20.10.2009 (Annexure P/l), whereby reservation of seats of all the 11 wards of Gram Panchayat, Jova, District Mahasamund, has been declared, on the ground that reservation of the seats is not in accordance with law and is in contravention of the provisions of the rules laid down under the Panchayat Nirvachan Niyam, 1995. The facts, in nutshell, are that the petitioner is a resident ,of Ward No. 2 of Gram Panchayat, Jova. The petitioner belongs to Other Backward Class category and was intending to contest the Panchayat Election from Ward No. 2. By the impugned notice dated 20.10.2009, issued by the office of Collector, Mahasamund,‘ the. seat of ward No. 2 was declared as reserved for a women candidate (unreserved). The grievance of the petitioner is that out of ll seats of Gram Panchayat, Jova, 6 seats have been‘reserved for scheduled caste and scheduled tribe but not a single seat has been reserved for a candidate of Other Backward Class category. Even in the earlier elections held in the year 1994, 1999 and vb 2004, not a single seat was reserved for Other Backward Class category s evident from Annexure P/3. The further grievance of the petitioner is that there are about 935 voters and out of which, 382 belong to OBC category, 378 belong to SC category and 150 belong to ST category Thus, looking to the [percentage of OBC voters, ther reservation of a seat for the OBC candidate also. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submits that in View of the provisions of sub candidate which i should have been rule (4) ofRule 4 ofthe Rules, 1995, 25 percent ofthe seats of Gram Panchayat, Jova, ought to have been reserved for Other category. Further, the object and intention of the legislature is clear that the total number of seats as regards to that of SC, ST and OBC should not exceed 75 and at least one seat ought to have been reserved for OBC category candidate for the panchayat election. On the other hand, Shri Bhaduri, learned counsel appearing for the No. l and 2, would submit that the reservation of the before initiation of election proceedings for Gram Panchayat. 1n the case, reservation of wards in Gram Panchayat was .10.2009. The petitioner, without raising any objection before the Collector or any other authority, filed the present writ petition on 02.12.2009. During pendency of this petition, election programme has been notified on 24.12.2009 and election thereon had been held on 28.01.2010, 31.01.2010 and 03.02.2010. The result was also declared thereon. Thus, this petition has become infructuous as if the petitioner has any grievance against the reservation of wards made by the Collector under the provisions of Rule 4 bf the Chhattisgarh Panchayat m,’ 1995 (for short ‘the Niyam, J995 ’). The petitioner ‘ may approach the Collector raising his grievances before next election Backward Class State/respondent wards is made published on 20 Nirvachan Niya i l "l e bf as reservation of wards vary from election to election of Gram Panchayat. Even otherwise, the petitioner may very well file election petition under the provisions of the Chhattisgarh Panchayats (Election Petitions, Corrupt Practices and Disqualification for Membership) Rules, 1995 (for short ‘the Rules, 1995 ’), Where there is no restriction that only a contesting candidate or elected candidate can present election petition. Thus, the petition deserves to be dismissed as having become infructuous. Reservation of wards rotate and vary in every election. The petitioner has not scified in the etition asto whether Vilage pe p l Jova, is in he scheduled ar as the reservation of wards is different in t ea general areas than te scheduled areas. The petitioner ought ha h to ve aproached the Collector wh has pubshed the nie in exercise o its p o li otc f power under Rule 4 of the Niya 99 on .10.2009. The etitioner m, 15 20 p fer n n um has urth ot stated in his pleadings or even i the argent asto whether the election had taken plce or not and What would be the result a if the petitioner succeeds in the present petitin, onc election has o e already been held. hus, without deciding the merits of reservation T which had become academic after election has been held. Tere is no h live issue for judication. Thus, the petition deserves to be dimissed ad s as having become infrucous. tu ules 1995 provides for iling of an election petition. Rule 3 f the R f o Rules, 1995 prescribes presetatio of election petition by a person nn . Rule 4 ofthe Rules, 1995, provides that the petitioner, in addition to claiming a declaration that the election of al or any of the retumed candidates is void, claims a further declaration that he himself or any V other candidate has been duly elected, he shall join as respondents to his petition all the contesting candidates at the election. Any person (elector/voter) who is aggrieved by a declaration of the election, may file a petition seeking a declaration that the election of all or any of the returned candidate is void’ 7. It is well settled thatif a case has become infructuous on the facts of the case and question remains to be decided for academic purpose, it is not necessary to examine the case. In the matter of Basheshar Nath v. Commissioner oflncome—tax, Delhi and Rajasthcm and another], the Supreme Court observed as under : "l2. ...We take the View that this Court should not make any pronouncement on any question which is not strictly necessary for the disposal of the particular case beforeit. We, therefore, confine our attention to Art. 14 and proceed to discuss the question on that footing." 8. In the matter of Dhartipakar Madan Lal Agarwal v. Rajiv Gandhiz, their Lordships observed as under :- "4. ....In this view grounds raised in the petition for setting aside the election of the respondent have been rendered academic. Court should not undertake to decide an issue unless it is a livingissue between the parties. If an issue is purely academic in that its decision one way or the other would have no’ impact on the position of the parties, it would be waste ofpublic time to engage itself in deciding it. Lord Viscount Simon in his speech in the House of Lords in Sun Life Assurance Co. of Canada v. Jarvis observed : I do not think that it would be a proper exercise of the. authority _which this House possesses to hear appeals if it occupies time in this case in deciding an academic question, r 1AIR (1959) sc. 149 2 (1937) Supp. scc 93 l i the answer to which cannot affect the respondent in any way. It is an essential quality of an appeal fit to be disposed of by his House that there should exist between the parties to a matter in actual controversy which the House, undertakes to decide as a living issue. " 9. In the matter of Secretary, Mm'stry of Information & Broadcasting, Govt. of ,Ina’ia and others v. Cricket Association of Bengal and others3, the Supreme Court observed as under :- "121. The orders passed by the High Court have to be viewed against the backdrop ofthe events and the position of law discussed above. The circumstances in which the High Court passed the orders and the factual and legal considerations which weighed withitin passing them speak for themselves. However, since the cricket matches have already been telecast, the question of the legality or otherwise of the orders has become academic and it is not necessary to pronounce our formal verdict onrthe same. Hence we refrain from doing so." 10. In the mater 0f State ofManipur and others v. Chandam Manihar Singh" the Supreme Court observed as under:- "10. Having given our anxious consideration to the rival contentions, we find that as the High Court's direction in favour of the respondent's tenure which is t0 expire on 15-10—1999 has almost worked itself out and less than a month remains for him to act as Chairman of the Board, the flrst grievance raised by learned Senior Counsel for the appellants in connection with the removal of the respondent by order dated 19-10-1998 has become of academic interest. We, therefore, did not permit learned Senior Counsel for the appellants to canvass this point any further before us. That takes us to the consideration of the second poin ." 11. The Hon'ble Constitution Bench’of the Supreme Court in the matter of Arm't Das v. State ofBihar5 observed as under:- I 3 (1995) 2 SCC 161 x 4 (1999) 7 SCC 503 \ 37$ "6. It is settled practice that this Court does not decide matters which are only of academic interest on the facts of a particular case. (See with advantage: Sanjeev Coke Mfg. Co. v. Bharat Coking Coal Ltd., R. S. Nayak V. A. R. Antulay and Dhartipakar Madan Lal Agarwal v. Rajiv Gandhi)". In the matter of Prakash Singh Badal and another v. State of Punjab and others6 the Supreme Court observed as under:- "39. So far as the question about the non- application of mind in the sanction or absence of sanction is concerned, this has been answered in the first questionie. where the public servant has ceased ‘to be a public servant since he has ceased to hold the office Where the alleged offenceis supposed to have taken place, the other questions really become academic." This Court, relying On the observations made by the Supreme Court in the cases as aforestated, in Tritz'ya Verg Shaskiya Karamchari Grih Nirman Samz'tz' Maryaa’it v. The Chham‘sgarh Information Commission 0thers7, held that question of law of academic interest cannot b & e adjudicated upon. In view of the foregoing, and for the reasons stated hereinabove, without going into the merits of the case as the instant petition is not an election petition, this petition is dismissed as having become infructuous. 1 Sd/— There shall be no order asto costs. " Satish K Agnihntri l -' » 5 Judge _ s (2001) 7 SCC 657 6 (2007) 1 scc 1 ‘ 7 Writ Petition (C) No 4313 of2008, decided on 11/08/2008