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Judgment
V.K.Shukla, J
In the present Intra Court appeal, a challenge has been made to the order dated 05-07-2018, passed by the learned Single Judge, whereby the petition filed by the appellants challenging the order dated 07-03-2018, passed by the respondent no.4, Collector, District Sidhi, by which he has rejected the "Motion for Recall" of the respondent no.6 from the post of President of the Managing Committee of Water Users' Association.
The facts in short are that respondent no.7 is a Water Users' Association constituted under Sections 3 and 4 of the Madhya Pradesh Sinchai Prabandhan Me Krishkon Ki Bhagidari Adhiniyam, 1999 (hereinafter referred to as "the Adhiniyam"). The respondent no.6 was elected as a President as per Section 4(5) of the Adhiniyam. A Motion for recall was submitted by the appellants, which was signed by 8 members of the Managing Committee out of total 12. However, the said motion was rejected by the Collector by the impugned order mainly on the ground that the motion was not signed by the requisite members as per Section 10 of the Adhiniyam, which requires that a notice of motion has to be submitted in the prescribed manner and the same has to be signed not less than 1/3rd of the total number of members of the farmers' organization, who are entitled to vote.
The contention of the learned counsel for the appellants is that the aforesaid provisions have been misconstrued by the Collector. It is submitted that the President of Managing Committee of the Association is elected by all the Members of the Managing Committee amongst themselves in term of Section 4(5) of the Adhiniyam. The election of the President is an indirect election and he is elected by the members of the Managing Committee, who are 12 in numbers and therefore, the motion for recall was erroneously rejected by the impugned order, though it was signed by 8 members of the Managing Committee out of 12, which fulfills the requirement of 1/3rd of the members of the Managing Committee who are voters for the election of President. It is contended that the Collector has committed an error while rejecting the motion for recall and further the learned Single Judge also failed to appreciate the provisions of Section 10 of the Adhiniyam in proper prospects.
Per contra, learned counsel representing the respondents supported the order passed by the Collector. It is contended that Water Users' Association Dhanha has 12 territorial Constituencies which have 6168 as total number of voters. Each territorial constituency elects its members. It is submitted that Chapter-III of the rules deals with election of members of territorial constituency and President of Water Users' Association. The election of the members of the territorial constituency took place on 08-11-2016 wherein respondent no.6 was elected as per amended provisions of sub-section 7 of Section 4 of the Adhiniyam. The term of the President is to expire on 12-11-2018. The motion for recall of the President was submitted through an application signed by 8 members out of 12 members and the same was submitted before the competent authority of the Water Users' Association, who forwarded the proposal for motion of recall of the President to the Collector, Sidhi, vide its communication dated 05-08-2018. The contention of the respondents is that on reading of Section 10 of the Adhiniyam, the application for recall of the President has to be signed by not less than 1/3rd of the total number of members of farmers' organization who are entitled to vote. Therefore, the contention of the petitioner that as per Section-10, it has to be signed only by the Members of the Managing Committee who are entitled to vote in the election of the President cannot be accepted. According to them, it is 1/3rd of 6,168 voters, it would come 2056 and therefore, the motion of re-call ought to have been presented by 2056 voters, therefore, the contention of the appellants cannot be accepted.
In order to appreciate the rival contentions of the parties, it is apposite to refer the provisions of Adhiniyam. The aforesaid Act has been enacted by Madhya Pradesh Legislature to provide for Farmers' participation in the management of Irrigation System and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
Section-2 provides certain definitions. The relevant definitions are 2(g), Sections-4 , 6 and 10, which are reproduced as under :
"2(g) farmers' organization" wherever it occurs, shall mean and include,-
(i) water users' association at the primary level consisting of all the water users' as constituted under Section 3:
(ii) distributory committee at the secondary level as constituted under section5; and
(iii) project committee at the project level, as constituted under section 7 ;"
"4. Managing Committee of Water Users Association.-(1) There shall be a Managing Committee for each Water Users' Association comprising members of the territorial constituencies as specified in subsection (2) of section 3 elected directly by the water users' as specified in sub-clause (i) of clause (a) of subsection (4) of section 3 from their respective territorial constituencies.
(2) The Managing Committee for Water Users' Association shall be a continuous body, with one third of its elected members retiring every two years as specified in sub-section (3).
(3) The term of office of the members of the territorial constituencies shall, if not recalled or removed or disqualified under the provisions of the Act, be six years from the date of appointment of the competent authority under sub-section (1) of section 21:
Provided that at the first election, all the territorial constituency members shall be elected at one time, out of which one third of the members thereof shall retire on the completion of two years, another one third members shall retire after completion of four years and the remaining one third shall retire after completion of six years in office and their terms of retirement shall be decided before the commencement of first election of the members of the territorial constituencies by drawl of lots.
(4) The District Collector shall cause arrangements for the election of a Managing Committee consisting of one member from each of the territorial constituency of a water users' area by the method of secret ballot in the manner prescribed.
(5) The District Collector shall also cause arrangements for election of a president of the managing Committee from amongst the members of the Managing committee of the water users' association, in the manner prescribed
(6) If, at an election held under sub-sections (4) and (5), the President or the members of the territorial constituencies of water users' association are not elected, fresh election shall be held in the manner prescribed. The president of the managing Committee of water users' association shall, if not recalled or removed or disqualified under the provisions of the Act, be in office for a period of two years from the date of election or his tenure as member of territorial constituency, whichever is earlier.
(7) The term of office of the President, and the members of Managing Committee of all the water users' associations formed subsequent to ordinary election, shall also expire at the time at which it would have expired, if he had been elected at the ordinary election.
(8) The Managing committee shall exercise the powers and perform the functions of the water users' association.]. Previous Provisions of Section 4 [upto 24.11.2014]
"4. Managing Committee of 'Water Users'Association.-
(1) There shall be a Managing Committee for every Water Users' Association, which shall consist of a President and one member from each of the territorial constituencies of the Water Users' Area;
(2) The District Collector shall make arrangements for the election of President of the Managing Committee of the Water Users' Association by direct election by the method of secret ballot in the manner prescribed.
(3) The District Collector shall also cause arrangements for the election of the members of Managing Committee by the method of secret ballot in the manner prescribed.
(4) If the Managing Committee of the Water Users' Association does not have a woman member, the Managing Committee shall co-opt a woman as member who shall ordinarily be a resident of the Farmers' Organisation area.
(5) The President and the members of the Managing Committee shall, if not recalled earlier, be in office for a term of five years from the date of appointment of the competent authority under sub-section (1) of Section 21:
Provided that if on the expiry of the term of the President and the members of the Managing Committee, a new Managing Committee is not constituted, the State Government may, by notification, extend the term of the President and the members of the Managing Committee only once for a period of six months from the date of expiry, with reasons for such extension being placed on record.
(6) The Managing Committee shall exercise the powers and perform the functions of the Water Users'Association."
"6. Election of managing committee of Distirbutory Committee-
(1) There shall be a Managing Committee for every Distributory Committee, consisting of all members of the General Body of Distributory Committee.
(2) The District Collector shall cause arrangements, in such manner as may be prescribed for the election by the method of secret ballot of the President, from amongst the members of the Managing Committee of the Distributory Committee.
(3) If, at an election held under sub-section
(2), the President is not elected, fresh elections shall be held as prescribed.
(4) If the Managing Committee of the Distributory Committee does not have a woman member, the Managing Committee shall co-opt a woman as a member who shall ordinarily be a resident of the farmers' organization area.
(5) The term of office of the President and the Members of the Managing Committee of the Distributory Committee shall, if not recalled or removed or disqualified under the provisions of the Act earlier, be coterminous with the term of General Body specified in sub-section(3) of Section 5.
(6) The Managing Committee shall exercise the powers and perform the functions of the Distributory Committee.
Previous position of Sect.6(upto 24- 11-2014)
"6. Election of Managing Committee of Distributory Committee:
(1) There shallbe a Managing Committee for every Distributory Committee.
(2) The District Collector shall cause arrangements, in such manner as may be prescribed for the election by the method of secret ballot of the President, and Members of the Managing Committee which shall not be more than five from amongst the members of the general body of the Distributory Committee.
(3) If the Managing Committee of the Distributory Committee does not have a woman member, the Managing Committee shall co-opt a woman as a member who shall ordinarily be a resident of the farmers' organization area.
(4) The term of office of the President and the members of the Managing Committee shall be five years from the date of the first meeting of the Managing Committee.
(5) The Managing Committee shall exercise the powers and perform the functions of the Distributory Committee."
"10. Procedure for recall.- (1) A "Motion for Recall" of a Chairperson or President or member of a Managing Committee, as the case may be, of a farmers' organisation may be made by giving a written notice as may be prescribed, signed or not less than one third of the total number of members of the farmers' organisation, who are entitled to vote:
Provided that no notice of motion under this section shall be made within one year of the date of assumption of office by the person against whom the motion is sought to be moved.
(2) If the motion is carried with the support of the two thirds majority of the members present and voting and half of the total number of members of the association voting at a meeting of the general body specially convened for the purpose, the District Collector or the State Government, as the case may be, shall by order remove him from office and the vacancy shall be filled in the manner specified in Section 15."
Upon perusal of the various provisions of the Adhiniyam, every Water Users' area is divided into territorial constituencies, which shall be six in case of minor irrigation system and twelve in case of major and medium irrigation system. It further provides that every Water Users' Association consist of members who are landholders in a Water Users' Area, the wives of such landholders, who do not hold land, shall be deemed to be the landholders for the purposes of this Act. Meaning thereby, every landholder in the Water Users' Area is a member of Water Users ' Association.
Farmers' organization includes water users' association at the primary level consisting of all the water users' as constituted under Section 3, Distributory committee at the secondary level has constituted under section 5 and project committee at the project level has constituted under section-7. The Managing Committee is constituted under Section 4 of Adhiniyam, which is permanent continuous body. Every year one third of its elected members shall retire as specified in sub section-3 of Section 4. From a bare reading of Section-10 of the Adhiniyam, it is clear that sub section-1 of Section-10 clearly stipulates that a notice for moving a " Motion for Recall" of the President, must be signed by not less than 1/3rd of the total number of members of the farmers' organization, who are entitled to vote. As per Sub-section(4) of Section 3 of the Adhiniyam , it is clear that every landholder in a Water Users' area is a voter and plays a role for constitution of Managing Committee of Water Users' Association. The word under Section-10, 1/3rd of the total number of members of Farmers' organization who are entitled to vote cannot be read to mean the members of the Managing Committee who are entitled to vote. The Managing Committee and the Farmers' Organization are two distinct bodies constituted under the Act. Such an interpretation would defeat the object of the Act which has been enacted to provide for Farmers' participation in the management of Irrigation System and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. In view of the aforesaid, since the Water Users' Association of Dhanha is having twelve territorial constituencies having total 6168 number of voters and therefore, the Collector and the learned Single Judge has rightly held that "Motion for Recall" has to be moved by 1/3rd of total number of voters of Farmers' Association as per Section-10 of the Adhiniyam.
In view of the aforesaid, we do not find any error in the order passed by the Collector and the learned Single Judge declining interference in the said order.
Ex-consequenti the writ appeal is dismissed. No order as to costs.