Case: Krishna Vs. State Of Maharashtra

3. This appeal is directed against the judgment and order of the High Court which dismissed the appellants writ petition challenging the order dated 9.2.2000 passed by the State Government (respondent No. 1), removing the appellant from the trust (respondent No. 2) created under the aforesaid Act. The Preamble of the Act suggests, the Act was brought on the statute book to provide for the improvement and expansion of the town of Nagpur. The secondwas created under Section 3 of the said Act. Section 4 provides that the trust shall consist of nine Trustees of which one shall be the Chairman. Out of nine such Trustees four persons are appointed including the Chairman by the State Government under(2) of Section (4) and out of the said four persons not less than two shall have to beresiding within the limits of the area to which this Act applies. In the present case we are concerned with Clause (e) of(1) of Section 4 to which the appellant belongs. Section 6 specifies about the term of the Chairman and the Trustees appointed under Clause (e) of(1) of Section 9. It provides that term of the office under it of the Chairman and of any Trustee shall be five years and both the Chairman and such Trustee may be removed from the office by the State Government at any time before completion of such term. Section 10 provides for the removal of Trustees, a provision which would fall for consideration along with Section 6 of the Act. For the purpose of appreciating the controversy we are hereunder reproducing Section 4(1)(e), 4(2), 6 and 104(1)(e): Four persons appointed under(2) of whom not less than two shall beresiding within the limits of the area to which this Act applies.Section 4(2): The Chairman and the four persons referred to in clause (e) of(1) shall be appointed by the State Government by notification.Section 6: The term of office of Chairman or of any Trustee appointed under clause (e) of(1) of Section 4 shall be five years, provided that the Chairman or any Trustee may be removed from office by the State Government at any time before the completion of such term.Section 10: The State Government may remove from the Trust any Trustees other than ana) refuses to act, or becomes incapable of acting as a Trustee, or absents himself without the permission of the trust for more than three consecutive months from the meeting of the Trust or of any Committee of which he is a member and is unable to explain such absence to the satisfaction of the Trust, or(b) is an undischarged insolvent or has compounded with as creditors, or(c) has been sentenced by a Criminal Court to imprisonment for a term exceeding six months or to transportation, or has been ordered to find security for good behaviour under the Code of Criminal Procedure, such sentence or order not having subsequently being reversed or remitted or the offender pardoned, or(d) has acquired or continued to hold without the permission in writing of the State Government directly or indirectly or by a partner, any share or interest any contract or employment with, by or on behalf to the Trust or the Municipal Committee, or(e) has acted as a trustee in a matter other than a matter referred to in clause (iv) or clause (v) of the proviso to thisin which he had either directly or indirectly; a personal interest, as a partner, employer, agent or counsel, or(f) has added (acted ?) in contravention of section 20 or(g) being a legal practitioner, in any suit or other proceedings, acts or appears on behalf of any other person against the Trust, or acts or appears on behalf of any other person in any criminal proceedings instituted by or on behalf of the Trust:Provided that a person shall not be deemed for the purpose of thisto acquire, or continue to have, any share or interest in a contract or employment by reasons only of his(i) having a share or interest in any lease, sale or purchase of land or buildings, or in any agreement for the same provided that such share or interest was acquired before he became a Trustee, or(ii) having a share in a joint stock company which shall contract with, or be employed by or on behalf of, the Trust, or(iii) having a share or interest in a newspaper in which an advertisement relating to the affairs of the trust is inserted; or(iv) holding a debenture or otherwise being interested in a loan raised by or on behalf of the trust, or(v) having a share or interest in the occasional sale of an article in which he regularly trades to the Trust to a value not exceeding, in any one year, such amount as the Trust, with the sanction of the State Government, may fix in this behalf.(2) The State Government may remove from the Trust a trustee who in its opinion has so flagrantly abused in any manner his position as a Trustee as to render his continuance as a Trustee determental to the public interest.(3) Wherever the State Government proposes to take action under the foregoing provisions of this section, an opportunity of explanation shall be given to the Trustee concerned, and, when such action is taken the reasons therefor shall be placed on record.(4) A Trustee, who remains absent without the permission of the Trust for more than three consecutive months from the area to which this Act extends, shall be deemed to have resigned his office.On 4.10.1996 the appellant was appointed as Trustee of the second respondent by the first respondent under(2) of Section 4 of the Act and his term was to expire on 3.10.2001. The submission for the appellant, incorporated in this appeal is, that after election of State Legislature Assembly, new national democratic Government came into power in the State of Maharashtra and started undoing what was done by the previous Government under pressure of various political parties. On 9.2.2000 respondent No. 1 passed an order removing the appellant from the office of Trustee. The order readsexercise of powers conferred on the Government by Section 6 of the Nagpur Improvement Trust Act, 1936 (C.P. and Berar Act No. XXXVI of 1936) the Government of Maharashtra from the date of this Notification cancel the appointment of S/Shri Pravin Barde and Krishna Bulaji Borate, Nagpur as the Trustee of the Nagpur Improvement Trust.By the order and in the name of the Governor of the Maharashtra State.This order was challenged by the appellant through a writ petition before the High Court. This High Court dismissed the writ petition (impugned order) by holding that Section 6 is an independent power for the removal of a Trustee falling under Section 4(1)(e), notwithstanding what is contained in Section 10. The initial appointment of the appellant is under Section 4(2) which is under the doctrine of pleasure hence in such termination there could be no question of violation of any principle of natural justice. It further held when power is exercised under Section 6, the provisions of Section 10 are not attracted. Hence before the impugned order there would not arise any question of giving opportunity, in effect there cannot be any violation of the principle of natural justice. Aggrieved by this the appellant has filed the present appeal.

Court's reasoning:
10. In the present statute Section 6 refers to the trustee falling under Clause (e),(1), Section 7 refers to Trustees falling under Clauses (b) and (c) and(2) refers of Trustees falling under Clause (d) and(3) refers to Trustees falling in Clause (f) of(1) of Section 4 and Section 10 refers to cases of removal of trustees by way of stigma, and Section 11 refers to the disability of such removed trustees. In view of this we have no hesitation to hold that removal of Trustee under Section 6 is based on the principle of doctrine of pleasure. We may only strike a note here if the legislature would have used some other words for the word `removed for expressing curtailment of the tenure of such trustee in Section, this possible confusion would not have arisen.Learned senior counsel for the appellant tried to distinguish this case by submitting that doctrine of pleasure was incorporated in the section itself. In our opinion this does not make difference. It may be in this case doctrine of pleasure is explicit but if on another statute it is implicit, which we have held in this case, the same principle would be equally applicable. Accordingly we do not find any merit in this submission.13. For the aforesaid reasons we hold the present appeal has no merit and the High Court was right in dismissing the writ petition filed by the appellant. We hold the removal of the appellant as Trustee of the second respondent by order dated 9.2.2000 was valid.