Case: Shyabuddinsab Mohidinsab Akki Vs. The Gadag-Betgeri Municipal Boroughand Others

Bombay District Muncipal and Municipal Boroughs (Amendment) Act, 1954, came into force (hereinafter in this section referred to as the said date) and all elections to the office of the president or vice-president, held on or after the said date and before the coming into force of this Act, shall be deemed to be valid as if this Act bad been in force on the said date; and any person elected to the office of the president or vice-president at any of such elections shall not be deemed to have been illegally elected merely on the ground that the residue of the term of office of the municipality being less than one year at the time of such election, he would hold his office for a term less than one year in contravention of section 19 of the Bombay Municipal Boroughs Act, 1925, as it was in operation before the coming into force of this Act.(2)Nothing contained in this section shall affect the judgment, decree or order of any competent court, passed before the coming into force of this Act, holding any of such elections invalid on the ground specified in sub- section (1)".12. It has not been contended that section 19 as amended by Act LIV of 1954 does not in terms cover the elections now impugned, nor that section 3 of the amending Act quoted above is not retrospective; but it has been urged on behalf of the appellant that it is not retrospective to the extent of affecting pending proceedings. In terms the amendment in question is deemed to have come into force on the II the May 1954 on which date the amending Act XXXV of 1954 had come into force. Section 3 in terms also declares that all elections to the office of president and vice-president held on or after the 11th May 1954 and before the coming into force of the amending Act shall be deemed to have been valid. The section also declares in unequivocal terms that such an election shall not be questioned simply on the ground of contravention of section 19 on which the election of the 2nd and 3rd respondents bad been questioned before the High Court. The legislature apparently thought fit to declare beyond all controversy that an election of president or vice-president for the unexpired portion of the term of a municipality could not be questioned on the ground that the provisions of section 19 as it stood before the amendment had been contravened.But it was argued on behalf of the appellant that in terms the amendment had not been made applicable to pending litigation and that therefore this court should hold that the amendment did not have the effect of validating the elections which were already under challenge in a court. No authority has been cited before us in support of the contention that unless there are express words in the amending statute to the effect that the amendment shall apply to pending proceedings also, it cannot affect such proceedings. There is clear authority to the contrary in-the following dictum of Lord Reading, C.J. in the case of The King v. The General Commissioners of Income- tax for Southampton; Ex parte W. M. Singer ([1916] 2 K.B. 249, 259, ), -"I cannot accept the contention of the applicant that an enactment can only take away vested rights of action for which legal proceedings have been commenced if there are in the enactment express words to that effect. There is no authority for this proposition, and I do not see why in principle it should be the law. But it is necessary that clear language should be used to make the retrospective effect applicable to proceedings commenced before the passing of the statute".13. That was a case in which the Act in question had validated assessments made by commissioners for wrong parishes. It was held by the court that the retrospective effect of the relevant section extended to proceedings for a prohibition commenced before the Act came into force and the rule nisi for a prohibition was therefore discharged. In every case the language of the amending statute has to be examined to find out whether the legislature clearly intended even pending proceedings to be affected by such statute. A number of authorities were cited before us but it is only necessary to refer to the decision of their Lord- ships of the Judicial Committee in Mukerjee, Official Receiver v. Ramratan Kuer(1), which is clearly in point. In that case while an appeal had been pending before the Judicial Committee the amending Act had been passed clearly showing that the Act was retrospective in the sense that it applied to all cases of a particular description, without reference to pending litigation. In those circumstances their Lordships pointed out that if any saving were to be implied in favour of pending proceedings, then the provisions of the statute would largely be rendered nugatory. Those observations apply with full force to the present case, inasmuch as if any saving were to be implied in favour of cases pending on the date of the amendment, the words "all elections to the office of the president or vice- president, held on or after the said date and before the coming into force of this Act, shall be deemed to be valid" could not be given their full effect. As there are no such saving clauses in express or implied terms, it must be held that the amendment was clearly intended by the legislature to apply to all cases of election of president or vice- president, whether or not the matter had been taken to court. it is the duty of courts to give full effect to the intentions of the legislature as expressed in a statute. That being so, it must be held that the amending Act had the effect of curing any illegality or irregularity in the elections in question with reference to the provisions of section 19 of the Act.14.

Decision (1 = appeal accepted, 0 = rejected): 0

Explanation:
0[ds]In our opinion, it is unnecessary for the purpose of this case to pronounce upon the merits of that controversy in the view we take of the meeting of the 3rd August, 1954, assuming that the meeting of the 30th July, 1954 had been adjourned without authority.It is common ground that it was the Collector who called the meeting of the 30th July 1954 and that it was under instructions from the Collector that meeting was adjourned. Under the provisions of section 23(1) (A), on the expiry of the term of office of the president or vice-president as determined by the municipality under section 19(1) of the Act, a new president or vice-president shall be elected within 25 days from the date of such expiry. The provisions of section 19-A which relate to the procedure for calling a meeting of a newly constituted municipality for the election of a president and vice-president have been made applicable to the calling of a meeting and the procedure to be followed at such meeting for the election of a president. Section 19-A requires the Collector to call a meeting for holding such an election. Such a meeting shall be presided over by the Collector or such officer as the Collector may by order in writing appoint in this behalf. The Collector or his nominee, when presiding over such a meeting, shall have the same powers as the president of a municipalit by when presiding over a meeting of the municipality has, but shall not have the right towould thus appear that the meeting of the 3rd August 1954 for the election of the president had been called by the Collector who had authorized the Prant Officer to preside over that meeting and that the 2nd respondent was duly elected president. Under section 35(3) of the Act, for such a special general meeting three clear days notice has to be given "specifying the time and place at -which such meeting is to be held and the business to be transacted thereat shall be served upon the councillors, and posted up at the municipal office or the kacheri or some other public building in the municipal borough and also published in a local vernacular newspaper having a large circulation if such exists".It has been contended on behalf of the appellant that the notice required by section 35 (3) contemplates a written notice to be served and published in the manner specified, and that the meeting of the 3rd August 1954 could not be said to have been held after complying with the terms of sub-section (3) of sectionis evident from the provisions of that sub-section that though the presence of the public at such meetings may be desirable, it is not obligatory. The presence at or the absence from such a meeting of the members of the public has no legal consequence so far as the validity of the election is concerned. It must therefore be held that the meeting of the 3rd August, 1954 in substance, though not in form, complied with the requirements of the law for holding a valid special general meeting and that therefore that meeting was not invalid, assuming, as already said, that the order of the presiding authority adjourning the meeting of the 30th July, 1954 was not authorized. It has to be remembered in this connection that such a special general meeting can be presided over only by the Collector or the person authorized by him and if either the Collector or his nominee does not hold the meeting, it is not competent for councillors present to elect their own chairman for presiding over such a meeting. Therefore if the presiding authority admittedly under instructions from the Collector refused to proceed with the elections on the 30th July 1954, the councillors present could not hold a meeting of their own with a president of their own choice and transact the only business on the agenda, namely, the election of president. Hence, rightly or wrongly, if the meeting called for the 30th July was not held, another meeting had to be held for the purpose within 25 days of the occurrence of the vacancy. In this case, as a result of the expiry of the original term of office of the president and vice-president, another meeting giving the required three days statutory notice had to be held. The meeting held on the 3rd August 1954 was such a meeting. Indeed, there were some omissions in the manner of publication or service of the notice but those in law were mere irregularities which do not have the effect of vitiating the election held at that meeting. The election of the president therefore, if not otherwise invalid, could not be assailed on the ground of the irregularity in the service or publication of the notice, in the special circum- stances of this case. If all the councillors had not been present on the 30th July or had not been informed of the proposed meeting of the 3rd August 1954, other considerations may have arisen but in this case it is clear that there was absolutely no prejudice to any party or individual or the municipality as a whole. But it was further contended that the walking out of the 13 councillors rendered the meeting infructuous. In our opinion, such a result does not follow from the voluntary act of the 13 councillors who chose to walk out. It was not even suggested that there was no quorum for the special general meeting after the 13 councillors walked out.The next question is whether the provisions of section 19 (1) as they stood on the 3rd August 1954 render the election of the president and the vice-president on the 3rd August 1954 invalid as it was "for the remaining period of the quadrennium". The High Court has taken the view that the remaining period of the quadrennium would not necessarily end on the 9th July 1955, in view of the proviso to section 19(1)"that the term of office of such president or vice- president shall be deemed to extend to and expire with the date on which his successor is elected". In view of the events that have happened it is not necessary for us to pronounce on the correctness or otherwise of that decision.