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Teja Singh, C.J.—The general elections for the Municipal Committee of Patiala were notified to be held with effect from 12-3-1951. On the 13th, when elections for ward No. 3 & No. 11 were in progress the Dy. Comr., Patiala issued an order u/s 144, Code of Criminal Procedure, calling upon the public in general to abstain from holding public meetings or public assemblies of five or more persons etc on any road, etc. within the limits of the area of the Municipal Committee for three days. The exact words of the order in so far as it relates to this case shall be reproduced later. After issuing the said order the Dy. Comr. stopped the polling in ward Nos. 3 & 11 & then the Govt. ordered an inquiry into the conduct of the elections. This has given rise to a petn. u/s 226 by Kartar Singh & Sampuran Singh for the issue of writs of mandamus & prohibition against the State, Shri Muna Lal, Election Officer of Municipalities, the Dy. Comr. Patiala, S. Dalip Singh Presiding Officer Polling Station, Ward No. 3 & S. Ram Singh Presiding Officer Polling Station, Ward No. 11.
The petnrs. contended that the elections once commenced could not be stopped by the Dy. Comr. & that his order was without jurisdiction & ultra vires. They further contended that the Govt. had no power to order the inquiry & their action was likely to prejudice petnrs. in the election. The learned Advocate-General who appeared on behalf of all the resps. admitted that polling in ward Nos. 3 & 11 was stopped by the Dy. Comr. before the election was complete. He also admitted that Govt. appointed an officer to hold an inquiry into the elections of the wards. As regards the first it was explained in the written statement of the Advocate-General that it was not possible to go on with the elections because of the order promulgated by the Dist. Mag. u/s 144 & the reason why the said order had been made was that there was a good deal of rowdyism & communal tension in the city of Patiala & Govt. after considering the whole situation had come to the conclusion that with a view to maintaining peace it was necessary to ban the assembly of five or more than five persons in all public places. The learned Advocate-General maintained that if the Govt. had not taken the precaution of having the said order u/s 144 made by the Dist. Mag. there would have been communal rioting on a considerable scale & with the enforcement of an order u/s 144, Code of Criminal Procedure it was not possible to continue the polling. As regards the alleged failure of the Govt. to make arrangements for fresh elections the position of the learned Advocate-General may be given in his own words, contained in para 3 of his written statement:
No steps have been taken to continue the elections as a fresh polling programme has to be worked out. This cannot be done without Govt. being sure that communal relations have improved to the necessary extent to enable peaceful polling Govt. have already ordered an inquiry under Rule 67 of the Municipal Election Rules, & only after Govt. have received the report of the Enquiry Officer & passed orders will Govt. be in a position to proceed with the elections.
As regards the Govt.''s power to hold the inquiry the position of the learned Advocate-General was that Rule 67 of the Municipal Election Rules gave the Govt. the right to order such an inquiry.
The first question that falls for determination is whether the Dy. Comr. was competent to stop the elections. Before I proceed to discuss it I wish to observe that according to the statement that the learned Advcoate-General made before us, the order of the Dy. Comr. was verbal & we do not know what words he used. I should have thought that taking into consideration the importance of the question it was the duty of the reaps. to produce some evidence about it or at least to make available to us an affidavit or a written statement by Shri R.S. Palta, the then Dy. Comr. reproducing the words of the order, so far as it was possible for him to do so, & explaining the circumstances under which it was made, but they failed in this. Even the presiding Officers of the Polling Stations to whom the orders of the Dy. Comr. must have been communicated have not chosen to throw any light on it. This being the case we do not know under what provision of law or under what rule the Dy. Comr. while stopping the elections purported to act. The learned Advocate-General conceded be fore us that neither any Section of the Municipal Act nor any of the Bales framed thereunder empowers the Dy. Comr., or as a matter of fact any authority, including the Govt. to stop or suspend the elections for an indefinite period. Rule 37 of the Municipal Election Rules of 2006 gives the Presiding Officer the power to stop polling for certain time but the perusal of the rule would go to show that that can only be for a short time on a particular day. This is what Clause (1) of the rule says:
The Presiding Officer shall on each day on which polling is to take place close the polling station at the hour appointed...provided that if for any reason it was not possible to open the polling station at the hour appointed...or it by reason of disorder at the polling station or for any other reason the Presiding officer deems it necessary to stop the polling for a certain time, the Presiding Officer shall keep the polling station open for a further period equal to the period that elapsed between the hours appointed for the opening of the polling station, & the hours at which it was actually opened or the time during which polling was stopped, as the case may be.
Now as regards the plea that the polling had to be stopped because of the order u/s 144, Code of Criminal Procedure issued by the Dy. Comr. The relevant part of the order reads as below:
Whereas I am satisfied from a report of City Inspector Police, Patiala that in connection with the Municipal Elections of Patiala great bitterness & excitement exists between some members & sections of the public some of whom also used violence & some sections or members of the public hold meetings, take out processions & shout slogans whereby the public tranquillity will be disturbed, & a breach of peace, danger to human life, public safety, riot & affray are imminent; & whereas immediate prevention & speedy remedy is desirable, I, Raghbir Singh Palta, Dist. Mag., Patiala do hereby direct u/s 144, Code of Criminal Procedure the public in general when frequenting or visiting any road, thoroughfare...or any public place situated within.... Municipal Committee, Patiala from the date & time of promulgation of this order to abstain from holding public meetings or public assemblies of five or more than five persons or taking out processions or shouting slogans...or organizing or taking part in such meetings...or carrying in public places lathies or anything capable of (sic) used as a weapon of offence within the limits of.... Municipal Committee, Patiala for three days ending on 16-3-1951.
The Advocate General argued that since the order prohibited, inter alia, the assembly of five or more persons, within the limits of the Municipal Committee, polling could not possibly go on & accordingly the Dy. Comr. had no option but to stop the elections sine die. It is true that according to the general practice processions are taken out & meetings are held with a view to canvassing votes for different candidates & voters are taken to polling Stations in large batches but I do, not think that these things are indispensable & if processions or meetings are prohibited & the voters cannot be taken to the polling booths in batches of five or more no polling can be held at all. Accordingly though I concede that the promulgation of the order u/s 144 did create some sort of difficulty for the voters as well as the candidates, I cannot accept the position that polling became altogether impossible. It may further be mentioned that if the hardship created by the Dist. Mag.''s order u/s 144 was real, it was for the voters or the candidates to complain but not only there is no evidence on this point, it was not even alleged before us that the Dy. Comr. was moved to stop further polling because of any representation made to him by any member of the Public or the candidates. Then the order u/s 144 was to remain in force for 8 days, & if order stopping polling was because of that order, polling would have been suspended for three days & not stopped altogether.
It was also argued by the Advocate-General that when the conditions in the town became disturbed & it appeared to the Dy. Comr. that if polling was not stopped immediately the peace & tranquillity of the town would be seriously jeopardized & his duty enjoined upon him to take the action that he did. The first thing that I wish to observe in this connection is that this plea was an after-thought & there was no mention in the written statement put in on behalf of the Govt. that the Dy. Comr. stopped the elections because of the apprehension of the breach of peace. On the other hand the position taken in the written statement was that promulgation of the order u/s 144, Code of Criminal Procedure made the continuance of the elections impossible. In para. 2 after stating that elections from Wards Nos. 3 & 11 were held as scheduled on 13-3-1951, this is what he said:
The elections were, however, discontinued from about 1 p.m. as it was no longer possible to continue them in view of the promulgation of an order u/s 144, Code of Criminal Procedure banning the assembly of more than five persons in any Public place.
In para. 4 reference was made to the deterioration of the communal situation in the State & the reasons that led to it & it was stated that the elections had to be held while the communal feelings were very strained. It was also mentioned that the provocative propaganda of various parties & candidates made the situation worse & there was a good deal of rowdyism & exchange of brick-bats while the elections were going on in some wards on 12-3-1951 so much so that the Police had to resort to lathi charge & used tear gas & a number of persons received injuries. As regards what happened on the 13th, this is what is given in the para.
Similar rowdyism with exchange of brick bats took place on 13-3-1951 in one or two wards & communal feelings became very strained, Govt. after considering the whole situation, came to the conclusion that it was not. possible to maintain peace without enforcing Section 144, Code of Criminal Procedure & banning the assembly or more than five persona in all Public places. If Govt. had not taken this precaution it was feared that there would have been communal rioting on a considerable scale. With the enforcement of an order u/s 144, Code of Criminal Procedure it was not possible to continue the polling. No polling can be possible if more than five persons are not allowed to corns together. The Dy. Comr. had therefore no alternative but to stop polling.
Para 5 is to the following effect:
The issuing of an order u/s 144, Code of Criminal Procedure is within the competence of the Dist. Mag. The suspending of polling was the natural corollary to the enforcement of Section 144, Code of Criminal Procedure. All actions of the Dy. Comr. & the other staff were fully within their jurisdiction.
It will thus be seen that according to the written statement the Dist Mag. promulgated the order u/s 144 with a view to bringing the situation under control & because the order prohibited, inter alia, the assembly of five persona or more, further polling became impossible & hence it had to be stopped. It cannot be denied that the disturbed condition of the town was emphasised in the written statement but the words of para. 4 reproduced above would go to show that with the promulgation of the order u/s 144 by the Dist. Mag. the situation was brought under control & peace was restored. The written statement does not even suggest that notwithstanding the action taken by the Dist. Mag. u/s 144 danger of breach of peace or rioting continued. On the other hand, the inference that one can draw from the sentence that "If Govt. had not taken this precaution it was feared that there would have been communal rioting on a considerable scale" is that the order had its desired effect & conditions became peaceful.
Then, it may be pointed out that the resps. have not placed on record any evidence by way of affidavits of responsible officials in support of the contentions that disorder & disturbances continued even after the order made by the Dist. Mag. u/s 144 had been promulgated & it was impossible to go on with polling. Our attention was drawn to the facts stated in the preamble of the order itself, but in my opinion, that does not constitute evidence. Apart from this the preamble only refers to the conditions that existed before the order was issued & by the very nature of things it cannot throw any light upon what happened afterwards. The resps. placed on record the affidavits of the two Presiding Officers, Sodhi Ram Singh & S. Dalip Singh. In order to see how far they are helpful to the reaps. it ia necessary to reproduce the relevant parts thereof:
Sodhi Ram Singh stated:
That on the aforesaid date the polling station was declared closed at 10.55 A.M. as there was danger of breach of peace & the polling station was rushed through. This was done on the advice of big officials present there & under order of Dy. Comr., Patiala.
That the Police made lathi charge & used tear gas for restoring order.
The polling station was again opened at 11.35 A.M. but was declared closed at 12.35 P. M. under the order of Dy Comr., Patiala who also promulgated Section 144.
S. Dalip Singh stated:
That on the aforesaid date there was great rowdyism at & around the polling station & feelings of the various parties were running very high & that there was a use of brickbats by the mob on the police & the police had to resort to lathi charge.
The former definitely described the conditions that existed before the order u/s 144 was promulgated. The latter does not say so in so many words but the trend of it would go to show that that also refd. to the incidents of the same time. In any case, it was for the resps. to show that polling could not continue because of the disturbed state of the city & this they could only do by establishing that the promulgation of the order by the Dist. Mag. u/s 144 had either little or no effect upon the situation & this they have failed to do.
Assuming, however, that the feelings between the various parties or communities had run so high that even the order u/s 144 did not have the desired effect & there was reason to think that if polling was allowed to continue the necessary result would be affray or rioting, the question is whether the Dy. Comr. could bake the action that he did. I would sub-divide this question into two parts: (i) whether according to the law or rules action by way of stopping or suspending the elections could be taken by any authority; & (ii) whether that authority was the Dy. Comr. The conduct of elections is not dealt with by the Municipal Act but Section 240 gives power to the Govt. to make rules with respect, inter alia, to the qualifications of electors & of candidates for election, to the nomination of candidates, to the time of elections & to the mode of recording votes & regulating the procedure for election, etc. Rules under this Section read with Section 3 of the Patiala & East Punjab States Union Local Bodies Law Ordinance, 2006 were framed by the Govt. & were notified on 7-9-1949. These rules are called the Municipal Election Rules & both sides are agreed that they lay down the procedure for various matters relating to the elections, including the conduct of the elections. It will not be denied that while making these rules Govt. could not be unaware that because of communal & party factions or for other reasons conditions could arise which might result into breach of peace, or which might at least threaten to cause breach of peace, & if they consd. that on occasions of that kind it would be desirable to stop the polling altogether or to suspend it for an indefinite period they could have very easily made a provision to this effect in the rules, but they did not do so. This makes me think that the intention of the Govt. was that complete stoppage of elections or suspension of polling for an indefinite period should not take place under any circumstances, & it cannot be said that it was a case of just an omission because by referring to Clause (1) of Rule 37 we find that the possibility of disorders & the desirability of certain action to tide over the difficulty created by disorders was present in the mind of the Govt. The relevant part of the clause has already been quoted. Rules 16 to 22 relate to the nomination of candidates for election, publication of lists of nominations, scrutiny of nomination papers, etc. Rule 25 lays down that if the number of candidates validly nominated in any constituency is greater than the number of members to be elected for such constituency a poll shall be taken on the date or dates fixed for the election. Clause (1) of Rule 26 refd. to in Rule 37 empowers the Dy. Comr. to select such number of polling stations as he may deem necessary, determine polling areas for which such stations are selected & the hours during which each such station is to remain open for the recording of votes. Clause (2) of the rule gives the Dy. Comr. the power to appoint, inter alia, a presiding officer for each Polling Station. Clause (3) is to the effect that the Presiding Officer of a polling station shall in addition to performing any other duties imposed upon him by the rules be in general charge of all arrangements at the polling station & may issue orders as to the manner in which persons shall be admitted to the polling station & generally for the preservation of peace & order at or in the vicinity of the polling station. By reading all these rules together the impression that I form is that it is the duty of the Presiding Officer of each polling station to maintain order in or around his polling station & that if he considers that polling cannot be carried on because of disorders or for any other reason it is for him to suspend it for a short time, but if he does so it will be his duty to keep the polling station open later on for the time for which it remained suspended. This power is given definitely to the Presiding Officer & no other officer or authority. As regards the Presiding Officer his power is limited within the four corners of Rule 37 & the election of each polling station must be completed on the day or days fixed for the purpose If the present case falls within Rule 37, the power to suspend polling could be exercised by the Presiding Officer & by him alone, if it does not, he had no power in the matter. As regards the Dy. Comr. he did not come into the picture at all & he had no power whatsoever.
It was stressed by the learned Advocate General that in the conditions that prevailed the Dy. Comr. had inherent power to do anything that he consd. necessary with a view to maintaining peace & order. It is not within the scope of this petn. to give any pronouncement about the general power a of a Dy. Comr. in his executive capacity, because all that we have to decide in this case is whether he had power to stop elections & suspend polling for an indefinite period. as I have, already shown, the matter is dealt with by rules framed by the Govt. u/s 240, Municipal Act, & this being the case no question of any kind of inherent power arises. The learned Advocate General argued that the rules contained no provision regarding the contingency with which the Dy. Comr. was faced in this case. The contention appears to me to be without force because as pointed out above, the Govt. was mindful of the possibility of there coming into existence disorders & conditions which might make the continuance of polling impossible & did make a provision to tide over the difficulty in Rule 37. But even if I were inclined to think that it was a case of causes omisus it was not open to the Dy. Comr. to invoke to his aid the so-called inherent powers & put a stop to the elections & suspend polling sine die, because that interfered with a valuable right of the candidates & voters to have the elections completed on the day or days appointed for the purpose. It was suggested in the course of arguments that the finding that the Dy. Comr. could not take any action by way of stopping polling, etc, under any circumstances would create a difficult situation & he would be left without any remedy in peculiar situations that might arise, for example, when there is a serious earthquake or outbreak of fire on a large scale or floods which threaten the very existence of the town. In my opinion, there is no analogy between these cases & the case which is now before us for the simple reason that in those cases not only polling would become impossible but the whole business & all activities in the town would come to a standstill while in the present case all that we are told is that if polling had been allowed to continue the consequences would have been rioting, etc. As against the major calamities in the hypothetical cases, there would be no remedy at all but the apprehensions of riot, etc., would certainly be met with by adequate action on the part of the Govt. & all that the Dy. Comr. had to do was to ask for the Govt. help. Then as I pointed out in the earlier part of this order there is absolutely no evidence to show that if polling continued it would have resulted into rioting, etc.... I may also mention here that should elections or polling be stopped because of a visitation of nature that made its continuance physically impossible & a petn. were made to this Ct. for a writ prohibiting the authorities who issued such order to give effect to it, I have not the slightest doubt that the writ would be refused even it the Ct. came to the conclusion that the order was not covered by any provisions of law & was therefore, technically without jurisdiction, & the reason for this is that relief by way of writ etc. is discretionary with the Ct. & the Ct. can always be depended upon to exercise that discretion reasonably.
There are yet other aspects of the Dy. Comr''s order that need examination. One is that if he was really faced with a serious situation & generally believed that the continuance of polling would plunge the town into trouble his duty was to bring this fact to the notice of the Govt. & to request them to make arrangements for restoring peace. I have no doubt that had this been done,'' the Govt. would have risen equal to the occasion & they had ample resources to prevent or even to quell all kinds of disturbances, including rioting. There is, however, nothing to show that the Dy. Comr. adopted this course. While addressing arguments to us about the inherent power of the Dy. Comr. to put a stop to the elections & polling, the learned Advocate General forgot that apart from the powers that District Officers possess they have an elementary duty which consists of keeping law & order & to protect peaceful citizens against the activities of mischievous elements. It cannot be denied that the voters of the wards for which polling was going on had the statutory right to cast their votes in favour of candidates of their own choice.'' If it was apprehended that there were people in the town who were likely to obstruct the voters or to make it impossible for them to cast votes by show of force, it was the paramount duty of the Dy. Comr. as the executive head of the District to take action against the mischief-mongers & to protect the voters. Instead of doing that the Dy. Comr. chose the path which may have appeared to him to be the line of least resistance & stopped further polling. I have not the slightest hesitation in holding that in this he erred. The second aspect is that it was not for the Dy. Comr. to take the action that he did & if there was any authority who could take action in the matter it was the Govt. The third is whether election or polling could be suspended for an indefinite period. It appears that while making the order that the Dy. Comr. did he did not give any consideration to it, at least there is nothing to show that he did anything of the kind. He merely ordered the elections to be stopped without taking the trouble of laying down that they would be resumed sometime later. It is explained by the learned Advocate General that the Govt. had the intention of fixing fresh polling programme, but they had not been able to do so because they were hot sure that communal relations had improved. In support of this contention the Govt. relies upon the affidavit of S. Pooran Singh, the present Dy. Comr. Patiala. The affidavit is dated 11-4-1951 & is to the effect that "normal conditions have not yet returned since the last Municipal Elections were suspended" & that "there is apprehension of breach of peace in case the polling is re-started in the near future" It will be remembered that the Dy. Comr. at the time of the previous elections was Shri R.S. Palta & it was he who made the order stopping the elections. When he left the District & when S. Pooran Singh took charge of his present duties is not clear from the record. The resps. have not oared to make available to us any information on these points. In the circumstances it cannot be understood how S. Pooran Singh could depose from his personal knowledge anything regarding the conditions that existed on the 18th March, or continued from that day till he joined the station. As regards the assertion that the conditions have not returned to the normal & if polling restarts there would be apprehension of breach of peace, it is vague & is not supported by any facts. At best it is the opinion o� the Dy. Comr. but one would like to know on what data that opinion was based. It is also significant that the order u/s 144 promulgated by Shri R.S. Palta on 13-3-1951 was to last only for three days & it was not extended on the expiry of that period. This should raise the presumption that conditions had become normal & peace & goodwill prevailed in the city. The words of S. Pooran Singh''s affidavit are liable to the construction that apprehension of breach of peace in case polling is re-started will continue "in the near future". What he exactly meant by this phrase is not clear nor was the Advocate General able to explain what it signified. More than a month & a half has already elap3ed since the elections were suspended & more than two weeks have elapsed since S. Pooran Singh''s affidavit was sworn. The fact that no steps have been taken by the Govt. to notify the dates of the elections would go to show that in their opinion "near future" has not yet arrived. How long it will take to arrive is difficult to say. We suggested to the Advocate General that he might inquire from the Govt. what precisely their intentions were & he informed us that the reply he got from the Govt. was that the elections would be held as soon as the conditions permitted. This statement is delightfully vague & it is permissible to infer therefrom that the Govt. means to do nothing in the matter for a long time to come, otherwise they could easily give us some estimate of time, if not exactly at least approximately, which in their view the conditions would take to revert to normal.
The learned Advocate-General cited Para. 560 of the Halsbury''s Laws of England, Vol. 12 (Edn. 1934) p. 288. The Chapter in which the para. occurs relates to Parliamentary Elections of England & it is laid down therein that:
Where the taking of poll is interrupted or obstructed by any riot or open violence, the returning officer or his lawful deputy is not for such cause to finally close the poll, but must adjourn the taking the poll at the particular polling place or places at which such interruption or obstruction has happened until the following day &, if necessary must further adjourn such poll until such interruption or obstruction has ceased, when he must again proceed with the taking the poll at...such place or places;...
How the para. does pot deal with the inherent powers of the returning officer but is based upon a statutory provision contained in Clause 36, Parliamentary Elections Act, 1835 (5 & 6 Will. 4), Section 8. It will also be seen that according to the para. the authority of the returning officer extends only to adjourning the taking the poll only for a short period & not sine die as was done in the present case by the Dy Comr. My opinion, therefore, is that in whatever way the matter may be looked at the action of the Dy. Comr. in stopping the polling & suspending the elections for an indefinite period was ultra vires & illegal.
This brings me to the legality of the inquiry into the elections ordered by the Govt. Rule 67, Municipal Election Rules, under which the Govt. purported to act, no doubt empowers the Govt. to direct an inquiry to be held into the conduct of any election if there is reason to suspect that a corrupt practice or material irregularity has been committed, but if we read that rule alongwith other rules pertaining to the inquiry it will be clear that election means a completed election which had resulted into the return of a particular candidate under Rule 39. It is mentioned in the concluding part of the rule that if & when the Govt. starts an inquiry of its own motion the case shall be dealt with so far as may be in the manner prescribed in the rules which relate to inquiries started at the instance of private parsons It is laid down in Rule 65 that if, as a result of an inquiry it is established to the satisfaction of the Com. or the Govt...that any person has been guilty of a corrupt practice...the Comr. or the Govt., as the case may be, shall declare that such person shall be incapable of being elected or nominated to membership or to any office whether honorary or paid, etc. Now this result can be achieved only if the election is complete & someone is elected & declared a member. It follows from all this that the order of the Govt. regarding the inquiry in so far as it relates to Wards Nos. 3 & 11 in which the polling was still going on at the time of the order is also illegal & ultra vires.
The last question that falls for determination is what relief should be granted & against whom. Municipalities have very important functions to perform & they have been invested with important powers. When they consist of elected members, as is the case with the Municipal Gommittee, Patiala, regd. voters have a right to cast votes in favour of the persons whom they want to be elected on behalf of their ward or wards & those who stand for elections have the right to be declared elected provided they secure the majority of votes. Any interference with this right of the voters, or persons who stand for election, must give the aggrieved party a right to move this Ct. for setting aside the wrong done to them & to issue a proper writ under Article 226. It is true that the right mentioned above is not one of the fundamental rights but the power of the H.C. for issuing directions, orders or writs under the said article is not confined to the enforcement of any of the fundamental rights but extends to other purposes also. As regards the H. Cs. in other parts of India this right was conferred upon them by the Constitution but so far as this H. Ct. is concerned Section 60, Patiala & East Punjab States Union Judicature Ordinance of 2005 gave it the power to issue directions or orders in the nature of writs of habeas corpus, etc. or any of them, for the enforcement of rights as are given by any law for the time being in force. The right of the voters & the candidates for Municipal Elections being a right given by the Municipal Act the Ct. has the power to grant proper relief to the petnrs. irrespective of the provisions of Article 226 of the Constitution. I have shown that the order of the Dy. Comr. stopping the elections & polling sine die was illegal & so was the order of the Govt. for inquiry into the elections of Wards Nos. 3 & 11 which were still going on. As regards the first order we would have refused to take any action if we were convinced that it was made under the stress of circumstances that developed all of a sudden but because of a mistaken notion about the legal position & the Govt. were prepared to reconsider the whole situation & were willing to resume the polling as early as possible. The difficulty, however, is that there is no evidence as regards the first point & there is no indication as regards the second. In the circumstances it appears to me that the petn. must be accepted in so far as it relates to the Govt. & the Dy. Comr. Patiala.
In Gopal Jairam v. State of Madhya Pradesh AIR 1951 Nag. 181, Govt. had superseded a Municipal Committee of which the petnr. was a member & a Vice-President. The petnr. applied to the H.C. under Article 226, for issue of a writ of mandamus against the State on the ground that the Govt. had no right to supersede the Municipal Committee & their action had deprived him of the right that he possessed as a member & the Vice-President. The H.C. held that though the petnr. did not seek the enforcement of a fundamental right the words "for any other purpose" appearing in Article 226 were wide enough to cover his case. This is what the learned Judge observed:
The petnr. complains that because of the inaction of the State Govt. he has not been able to exercise his rights as a member & Vice President of the superseded Municipal Committee, which he would be able to exercise it the Committee were reconstituted. Therefore, according to him he is unable to enforce his legal right. Admittedly, there is no specific legal remedy for enforcing the right, & so, according to him, this in an appropriate case in which a writ of mandamus should be issued. I am of the opinion that if the interpretation put upon the relevant provisions of law by the petnr. is correct, this is a kind of case in which a writ of mandamus can issue, though whether to issue it or not would be in the discretion of the Ct.
In this case it is admitted that no other remedy is available to the petnrs. Accordingly, the principles enunciated in the Nagpur case are applicable. I would, therefore, issue a writ of mandamus to the State (resp. 1) as well as the Dy. Comr. Patiala (reap. 3) that they should take steps to re-start the elections of the Municipal Committee & to resume the pollings which were stopped by the Dy. Comr''s. order on 13-3-1951 & to take all necessary steps for completing the said elections within a month & a half. I would also issue a writ to the State (resp. 1) to stop further proceedings relating to the inquiry into the elections of wards Nos. 3 & 11 & not to re-start it until the elections of those wards are complete & successful candidates are declared. As regards the rest of the resps. Shri Muna Lal Election Officer, (resp. 2) Presiding Officer, Polling Station, Ward No. 3 (resp. 4), & Presiding Officer, Polling Station, Ward No. 11 (resp 5), it has not been shown of what illegal or improper act they were guilty & what cause of action the petnrs. had against them. The petn. in so far as it relates to them would, therefore, stand dismissed. There will be no order as to costs.
Passey, J.
I agree.