Case: All Party Hill Leaders' Conference, Shillong Vs. Captain M.A. Sangma &amp; Ors

The All Party Hill Leaders Conference (hereinafter to be described as the APHLC) was constituted as a political party in the composite State of Assam on July 6, 1960. In 1962 the APHLC contested the general elections and secured 11 out of 15 seas in the Assam Legislative Assembly reserved for the Autonomous Hill Distriots of the State of Assam and returned one member to the Lok Sabha. In 1967 it contested the general elections and secured 9 seats in the Legislative Assembly and returned one m ember to the Lok Sabha. In 1970 the autonomous State of Meghalaya within the State of Assam was constituted under section 3 of the Assam Reorganisation Act, 1969, and the APHLC secured 34 seats in the Legislative Assembly. In 1972 the State o f Meghalaya came into being as the 21st State of the Indian Union under section 5 of the North- Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act, 1971. In the same year the APHLC contested the general elections and secured 32 seats in the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly out of 60 and returned two members to the Lok Sabha and one member to the Rajya SabhaIt is claimed by the appellant that the APHLC is a vibrant and fully functioning political party. It has a high reputation for its national and patriotic outlook and its adherence to non-violence, constitutionalism, communal harmony and the spirit of moderation. APHLC has been influential not only in securing stability in the area in which it operates but also in bringing the various tribes of the North East into the national stream. In the implementation of national programmes APHLC has co-operated with the Indian National Congress but APHLC has always remained essentially a state party. The essence of APHLC, says the appellant, is the autonomy and security of the small hill tribes of the North East whose party it is and who do not wish to lose their identity as such. The appellant further asserts that it is in the national interest no less than the interest of these small hill tribes that they should possess a sense of unity and Organisation within the APHLC which in turn maintains the best of relations with the Indian National Congress which is a national party .The appellant also claims that the APHLC functions at several levels, namely, Central, District, Circle and Village levels. At the Central level it has affiliated to it several other parties, these being the Garo National Council, the Eastern India Tribal Union, the Khasi Jaintia Conference and the Jaintia Durbar. There is the Central office Bearers Committee comprising all the Central Office Bearers, namely, President, several Vice-Presidents, General Secretary, Joint Secretaries and Treasurer. Furthermore, there are branches at the District level each district having its own office bearers, executive committee and other committees. Thereafter, there are Circles within the area of the district which correspond to M.L.A. constituencies. Further below and nearest to the grass roots there are the village units comprising a village or a group of villages. There are about 300 village units in the State, each unit having 50 to 200 members of APHLC, according t o the size of the village unitOriginally the representatives of the District Congress Committees were also included in the APHLC but some time in 1961 the District Congress Committees left the APHLC. It is also claimed that the APHLC as a politic al party has thousand.-, and thousands of members in the State of Meghalaya". As a counter to this assertion, it is stated by the respondents that "as per well-established convention of the erstwhile APHLC, the general Conference of the party was the supreme authority to discuss and to decide on any issue before it". It is pointed out by the appellant that the presence of a large membership has not been even denied by the respondentsIt is clear that the main object of the APHLC was to achieve statehood in the hill areas within the framework of the Constitution of India and to work out its own destiny maintaining its identity according to their own genius parting company with Assam. This was achieved finally on January 21, 1972, when the ruling party in the Central Government was the Indian National Congress. The APHLC election manifesto of 1972 while disclosing its programme and policy for the new State of Meghalaya announced as follows"The APHLC, with the unreserved support of the people has been instrumental in bringing about the creation of the Hill State, and it is confident that with the continued support and co-operation of the people, the Party will, through its programme, succeed in ushering in for the people of Meghalaya an era of hope, of justice and of equality of opportunity". (See APHLC Souvenir 1960-1974 page 19.)We have already shown above how the APHLC came out successful in the electionsIt appears that some time thereafter the question of merger of the APHLC with the Congress occupied the minds of the leaders. The 24th Session of the APHLC held at Shillong on June 1 9 and 20, 1973, considered "the future of the party and the question of merger with Congress" and "unanimously decided to maintain its identity and continue to serve the people as a party".(See APHLC Souvenir 1960-1974 page 17.). The issue of merger of the APHLC with the Congress was, however, not dead and it again came up for consideration in the General Conference of the APHLC on August 19 and 20, 1976, with notice of two months issued in June 1976. It was again, in line with the previous policy, decided in that Conference "that friendly relations with the Indian National Congress should be maintained and strengthened". But no mergerOn November 1, 1976, in a meeting of the Central Office Bearers Committee, which is the executive body of the APHLC, Captain Sangma, who was President of the APHLC as well as Chief Minister of Meghalaya, made an announcement that "the Congress High Command had rejected the Resolution of friendly relations passed at the APHLC Conference on the 19th and 20th August, 1976 and had insisted that APHLC should merge with the Indian National Congress". Although there is some controversy about the correctness of the minutes of November 1, 1976, it appears therefrom that a General Conference of the APHLC was announced to be held at Mendipathar. Garo Hills District, on November 16, 1976, "to review the implementation of the political resolution of the Conference held at Shillong on see APHLC, Suvenir, 1960-1974 page 19 the 19th and 20th August, 1976". The notice for this meeting was given with the agenda in the above quoted terms on November 3, 1976, and all delegates were requested to attend the Conference on November 16, 1976. It is rather intriguing that the agenda in the notice, with such a short interval, did not even specifically mention about discussion of the issue of "merger with the INC" even to facilitate the news of this move to trickle far an d wide into larger areas of the populace. Even so there was a storm of protests from several quarters. On November 4, 1976, the Executive Committee of the Khasi Hills District APHLC expressed grave concern about the matter and requested th e President, Captain Sangma, to postpone the Conference. On November 8, 1976, several leaders from Garo Hills, including the then Chief Executive Member of the District Council and the then Chairman of the Garo Hills District Council, presented a memorandum to Captain Sangma requesting postponement of the Conference "so that the leaders and the workers of the party have time enough to consider the matter". On November 10 and 11, 1976, the Executive Committee of the Khasi Hills District decided not to participate in the Conference of 16th November, 1976. The Committee further appealed to the President of the party for postponement of the holding of the proposed Conference "to enable the leadership to take the rank and file of the party and the people into confidence on the issues involved and through calm and objective discussions, evolve a consensus decision to the satisfaction of all concerned in keeping with the tradition and genius of the hill people". On November 14 , 1976, two days prior to the Conference, the Shillong unit of the APHLC by a resolution requested Captain Sangma for giving the leaders and members of the party time and opportunity to consider all aspects of the merger issue "by mutual consultation at all levels, so that a consensus may be arrived at and thus maintain the unity of the party and the people". Notwithstanding the opposition, it went unheeded and the Conference was held on November 16, 1976, at Mendipathar which was attended by 81 delegates out of 121 and a resolution was passed unanimously in favour of merger with the Congress. The resolution:"recalls with fond memory the circumstances which actuated the people of the autonomous districts of the then composite State of Assam to constitute a common political platform of their own, styled as the All Party Hill Leaders Conference with a view to solving certain issues vitally affecting their welfare and interestsThis meeting also recalls in this context that during the last few years, the APHLCs relationship with the India n National Congress, including the question of merger has often been discussed in different forums, and formally in the 24th session of the party on the 19th and 20th June, 1973 at Shillong.. The 26th session of the party held on the 19th land 20th August, 1976 reiterated its firm resolve to strengthen, through mutually agreed upon steps, the said relationship with the Indian National CongressTaking into full account the political changes which have taken place in the meantime in the State and the country it is realised that the earlier resolutions have virtually become irrelevant and it is high time now to take concrete steps. This meeting therefore, regrets that there are nevertheless some of our people who do not want to face facts and consequently fail to appreciate the importance of the changed situation which will go against the interests of the State and the people to allow indecision t o continue furtherNow, therefore, in view of the constant stand of the party to strengthen the good relationship with the Indian National Congress, and in view of the objective realities of the political situation obtaining in the country, and having noted the consensus of the people through their representatives and our following the plans and programmes of the Indian National Congress which has been consistently taking special care to promote the welfare and interests of the Scheduled Tribes as provided in the Constitution and having been convinced, after a most careful consideration, that there is no better way to give practical shape to the long standing convictions of the Party to come closer to the Prime Minister and her party than by merging with the Indian National Congress thereby providing us with an opportunity to take full advantage of the national forum together with other hill people of the northeastern region who have similar problems as we, and taking all these factors into serious and realistic consideration, this meeting hereby unanimously resolves that the APHLC be merged with the Indian National Congress in response to the desire of the Prime Minister, Shrimati Indira Gandhi, and her party. for the larger and fuller interests of the people of Meghalaya in particular and of the country in general."The meeting further authorised the President, Captain Sangma, "to form a committee consisting of 5 members to work out the modalities, technicalities and details of the merger with the Indian Nat ional Congress in consultation with the Congress High Command" and also authorised him "to announce the formal merger of the APHLC with the Indian National Congress and the consequent dissolution of the APHLC as a political party or association in the State of Meghalaya". The meeting also "appeal(ed) to the people of Meghalaya in particular to the leaders and supporters of the APHLC, to extend their full support to the resolution"It is an irony that although the meeting recalled the part played by "the people" in constituting "a common political platform" styled as the APHLC, the appeal by a vocal section of the party to go back to "the people" to clearly ascertain their wish as to obliteration of the " platform" constituted by them f ell on deaf earsThe Conference of 81 members, unmandated for the purpose, decided for the people and the President acquired from that small body absolute power to nominate his own committee and to do all that was necessary in order to announce t he merger of the party with the INC. The saving grace of the resolution was "the appeal to the people of Meghalaya" to extend this their support to the resolutionThe resolution had immediate repercussions. , The very next day, November 17, 1976, four APHLC leaders, namely, Messrs. D. D Pugh (General Secretary of APHLC), P. R. Kyndiah, S. D. D. Nichols Roy and B. B, Lyngdoh issued the following Press statement:-"We deeply regret the decision taken by a section of APHLC leaders meeting at Mendipathar to leave the party and join the Congress despite the suggestion to postpone the meeting with a view to enable the leadership time to consult the rank and file of the party and to take the people into confidence. By this hasty decision Shri W. A. Sangma and his followers have shown their complete disregard of the will of the people on whose mandate the APHLC Government was formed.The APHLC will continue to serve the best interests of the people and make its own distinctive contribution to the progress of the State and the country as a whole. In this connection, a Conference of the APHLC is being convened by the General Secretary on the 7th December, 1976"The following day, November 18, 1976, Messrs. B. B. Lyngdoh, S. D. D. Nichols Roy, P. R. Kyndiab and D. D. Pugh, who were Ministers in the Government of Meghalaya, resigned from the Cabinet and addressed a letter to the Chief Minister (Captain Sangma) as follows:-"In view of the fact that you and the other three Cabinet colleagues have decided to leave the APHLC which had formed the present Government and that you have done so without a mandate of the people we feel it has become morally incumbent upon us to resign. We do, therefore, hereby submit our resignation from the Cabinet with immediate effect"Even then President Captain Sangma did not cry halt. On November 20, 1976, Captain Sangma made an announcement as follows:-"Having been duly authorised by resolution of the 27th session of the All Party Leaders Conference held on 16th November, 1976 at Mendipathar, Garo Hills, Meghalaya, in pursuance of the decision of the Central Committee held on the 1st November, 76 at Shillong I, C apt. W. A. Sangma, President of the All Party Hill Leaders Conference, after finalising the modalities of the merger as directed by the aforesaid resolution, hereby announce the merger of the All Party Hill Leaders Conference with the Indian National Congress. The All Party Hill Leaders Conference stands. dissolved, as a Political Party or Association in:. the State of Meghalaya with effect from the afternoon of the aforesaid date, and its assets including bank balance and securities as also liabilities stand merged with the Indian National Congress".Without further loss of time, the next move began. By a dated November 28, 1976, Shri O. L. Nongtdu, describing himself as, "Joint Secretary of the erstwhile APHLC" informed the Election Commission (hereinafter to be described as the Commission) that the APHLC had merged with the Indian National Congress (hereinafter to be referred to as the INC) and consequently it stood, dissolved. He requested the Com mission in that letter to "withdraw the election symbol (Flower) reserved for the erstwhile APHLC". He enclosed with that letter several documents containing the resolutions of the partyAs against that move, by a letter dated November 30, 1976, Shri D. D. Pugh informed the Commission that some APHLC leaders including Captain Sangma had joined the INC and thus defected from the APHLC, that the leaders who had left the party had no authority to decide dissolution of the party or to approach the authorities on the question of recognition or derecognition, that the party was still in existence and there was no provision whatever for a person or a group of persons to dissolve this party of the, peopleOn December 9, 1976, the Commission for warded to Shri D. D. Pugh, General Secretary, APHLC, copies of letters together with their enclosures received from Shri O. L. Nongtdu, Joint Secretary, APHLC. and invited comments thereon before 31st December, 1976 "so as to enable the Commission to take further necessary action in the matter". Shri D. D. Pugh forwarded his comments to the Commission on December 24, 1976, concluding his representation as follows:-"The party having been recognised as a political party with the reserved symbol Flower under the provisions of the Order, no occasion has arisen for not continuing the said symbol "Flower" to the party which has admittedly 14 members in the State Legislature, 16 members in the District councils and thousands and thousands of members in the State ofe Commission heard the parties on January 29, 1977, on which date Shri B. B. Lyngodh filed an affidavit before the Commission. The Commission after hearing the parties passed its order on February 1. 1977, holding that-"the APHLC, a recognised State party in Meghalaya under the Election Symbols Order has ceased to exist and that therefore the name of that party and the symbol "Flower" reserved for it should be deleted from the list of recognised State parties in the Election Commission Notification No. S.O. A 61 (E) dated 31 January 1975 forthwith. The symbol "Flower" shall remain frozen with immediate effect. I also direct that in order to avoid confusion the said symbol should not be included as a free symbol in respect of the States of Meghalaya and Assam"It is against the above order of t he Commission that the appellant has brought this appeal by special leave.

Court's reasoning:
We are unable to accept this submission. The, question is whether in deciding the particular dispute between the parties in a matter of the kind envisaged in the particular controversy, - the Commission is exercising a judicial function and it has a duty to act judicially. Having regard to the character of the Commission in dealing with the particular matter and the nature of the enquiry envisaged and the procedure which is reasonably required to be followed, we hold that its primary function in respect of this subject matter is judicial. It is not necessary that this should be the only function of the Election Commission in order to answer the character of a tribunal under Article 136. Even in the Associated Cement Companies case (supra) this Court had to deal with the exercise of power by. the State Government under rule 6(5) and (6) of the Punjab Welfare Officers Recruitment and Conditions of Service Rules, 1952 and it held that the State Government in acting under those rules was a tribunal within the ambit of Article 136(1). It goes without saying that the primary function of the State Government is not exercise of judicial power. We have to determine this question keeping in view the exercise of power with reference to the particular subject-matter although in some other matters the exercise of function may be of a different kind.Mr. Rao further contends that the decision of the Commission in such a case is only a tentative decision and, therefore, the Commission does not answer the legal concept of a tribunal. We are unable to hold that the decision which the Commission gives after hearing the parties in a controversy in respect of the Claim of a party to continue as a recognised party in the- State continuing the reserved symbol already allotted to it is only a tentative decision. The decision that the tribunal gives is a definitive decision and is binding on both the contending parties so far as the claim to the reserved symbol is concerned. The decision with regard to the reserved symbol or for the matter of that any symbol for the purpose of election is within the special jurisdiction of the Election Commission and it is not permissible for the ordinary hierarchy of courts to entertain such a dispute. The Corn-mission does not decide any rights to property belonging to a political party or rival groups of a political party. That may be a matter for the ordinary civil courts with which we are not concerned in this appealThus the position that emerges from the above discussion is that the Commission is created under the Constitution and is invested under the law with not only administrative powers but also with certain judicial power of the State, however fractional it may be. The Commission exclusively resolves disputes, inter alia, between rival parties with regard to claims for being a recognised political party for the purpose of the electoral symbolWe are, therefore, clearly of opinion that the Commission fulfils the essential tests of a tribunal and falls squarely within the ambit of Article 136(1) of the Constitution. The preliminary objection is, therefore, overruled.Now on the meritsWe are told that the numerical strength of the delegates to such a Conference is 121. It must, however, be borne in mind that they are " delegates", that is to say, delegates of some body or persons who would in the usual course, elect or authorise the delegates as their representatives to represent the larger body or assemblage in the Conference. There is clear evidence of the democratic feature in this very notice which showed the pattern of working of the APHLC"Any issue on which decision may normally be taken by the Conference must relate to live matters of a living organ and not to its death wish. Without the nexus with the generality of membership decisions will derive no force or vigour and no party or conference can hope to succeed in their plans, efforts or struggle unless backed by the same. There is no evidence authorising the Conference to dissolve itself by merger or otherwise, and so it is not possible to apply the rule of majority only in the Conference for such a decision affecting the entire body as an entity in the absence of a clear man date from the general membership. Assuming that the Conference on November 16, 1976, decided by a majority to dissolve the APHLC, it would have been in accord with democratic principles to place that decision before the general membership of the party for ratification prior to implementing the mere majority decision of the Conference without regard to the wishes of the members as a whole. The President of the APHLC and those who were in favour of dissolution fell into this error and they cannot blame the minority of 40 members who openly disassociated with the hasty move and only wanted time for further discussion by taking "the ran k and file" into confidence. It is very difficult to appreciate why this reasonable request from a responsible section of the Conference was completely unheeded and the President thought it proper to agree to take upon himself the responsibility to announce the dissolution and hastily merge with the INC. The matter ought to have struck the President as a grave issue resulting, as it had done, in resignation of four members of the Meghalaya Cabinet on this very issue.Again in this co text it will be appropriate to refer to an admitted document being the resolution passed by the 20th Session of the All Party Hills Leaders Conference held at Tura on the 14th and 15th October, 1968, when the party was a unified bodyThe above resolution adopted in 1968 would clearly show that the APHLC has been always working on democratic lines mindful of the public opinion in the entire hill areas and whenever momentous decisions had to be taken they thought it absolutely mandatory to consult the wishes of t he people before taking a decision. This is, as it should be, for democracy cannot thrive as democracy by being an oligarchy masquerading for democracy. There could not have been a more momentous decision than the dissolution of a ruling p arty in the State.It was crystal clear that the house was emotionally divided on the issue of merger with the INC and that the history of the move in the direction of the merger brought forth discordant notes and opposite trends. The portents were sufficiently indicative of almost unbridgeable fissures affecting the harmony in the party. Leaders who had harmoniously chosen peaceful paths on various issues in the past could not have been expected to tear asunder the homogeneity which successfully built up the party. It appears, the finale of the proposed assimilation did not filter from within but was, on the Presidents frank disclosure before the Central Committee, "wanted" from outside, a position to which several leaders immediately reactedThe Commission fell into an error in holding that the Conference of the APHLC was the general body even to take a decision about its dissolution by a majority vote. The matter would have been absolutely different if in the general body of all members from different areas or their representatives for the purpose, assembled to take a decision about the dissolution of the party had reached a decision by majority. This has not happened in this case. At best the decision of the Conference on November 16, 1976, was only a step in that direction and could not be held as final until it was ratified by the general membership. The fact that no membership registers were produced before the Commission or that there is controversy with regard to the existence of regular members or their enrollment would not justify the Conference to be indifferent to the consensus of the members as a whole whom they had always consulted in other momentous issues and but for whose active aid, support and participation they could not have achieved the statehood for Meghalaya. The decision of the Commission, therefore, is completely erroneous.There can be no flower without its sap. There cannot be leaders without people. There cannot be a party without members. Action of leaders ignoring the generality of membership is ineffective. Such action cannot be equated it the consensus of the membership which alone supplies the base for its sustenanceIt is not disputed that the APHLC With 40 members still claiming to continue its reserved symbol answers the test laid down in the Commissions directions for being recognised as a State political party under paragraph 6 of the Symbols Order. They bad, on the date of entertainment of the dispute by the Commission, still the requisite membership fulfilling the test for recognition as a State political party. The Commission was, therefore, required to follow the provisions of the directions which it has laid down in the Symbols Order when the question of derecognition of a party was raised before it. It is not a dispute between two faction s of the same party, each claiming to be the party so that the Commission has to allow the symbol to one of them. The claim of the respondents before the Commission was that the APHLC had ceased to function as a recognised political partyn the State andCaptain Sangmas group having merged With the INC requested the Commission to scrap the APHLC out of existence with its reserved symbol so that the APHLC would be effaced from the political arena. The Commission was entirely wrong in its decision in view of its own directions embodied in the Symbols Order. The Commission could not be reasonably satisfied on the materials before it that under paragraph 6 read with paragraph 7 of the Symbols Order the APHLC bad ceased to be recognised political party in the State. Even by application of the directions which it has set out in the Symbols Order the Commissions decision is absolutely untenable.Even after a major chunk of the APHLC led by Captain Sangma had joined the INC., if those who still continued under the banner of the APHLC flag and symbol claimed to continue as APHLC and the directions in the Symbols Order did not authorise derecognition of the APHLC as a body represented by the remainder , as we have found, no case is made out for any interference by the Commission with regard to the reserved symbol. Thus the APHLC, as a recognised state political party in Meghalaya, stays and is entitled to continue with their reserved symbol "Flower".