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Judgment
Vepa Ramesam, J.—This is a revision petition against the order of the District Judge of Salem setting aside the election of the petitioner
before me for the first ward of the Union of Trichengode, in the Salem District. The facts of the case are as follows: The Madras Government
dissolved the Trichengode Union u/s 45 of the Local Boards Act and passed an order that another Board should be re-constituted. They
appointed an officer immediately to exercise the powers of the Board and he was directed to re-constitute a Union Board by arranging for
elections in respect of such members as have got to be elected and they directed also the Taluk Board of Sankari to nominate the members that
have got to be nominated, after the elections are over. All this is to be done as soon as possible. Accordingly the Special Officer appointed
proceeded with making arrangements for the election of members for the first ward among other elections, In this election the petitioners before me
were elected. The respondent before me filed the petition O.P. No. 27 of 1929 for the purpose of setting aside the election on the ground that the
electoral roll on the basis of which the election was conducted was the roil prepared; fox the year 1923-1924 and no other later roll was prepared.
It is said that the old electoral roll contains names of persons: who are dead and of persons who are unfit to be voters and does not contain
persons who are fit to be voters. It was contended on behalf of the petitioners that that does not matter. Under, Section 51(4) an electoral roll
published in any year shall remain in force till the publication of a fresh electoral roll. The District Judge disallowed this contention of the petitioners,
before me he lding that Section 51(4) applies only to cases happening in the interval between April and July of any year. The rules prescribed that
a tentative list will fee published on the 30th April of each year and after hearing objections, if any, the final list should be published on the 1st July.
The District Judge thinks that only in the case of elections between the 30th of April and the 1st of July Clause 4 of Section 51 operates and that in
all other cases where the rules are broken the election is bad because it is based on an electoral roll not prepared according to the rules under the
Act. But if this were the object of the section, Clause 4 of Section 51 would not have been worded in the very wide language in which it is framed.
The learned Advocate-General who appears for the respondent and supports the order of the District Judge does not, in fact, contend for the very
narrow construction of the learned District Judge, He contends that the object is to provide for delays in the preparation of electoral rolls when one
is being prepared to carry out the obvious intentions of the Act, and it does not apply to a case where the directions of the Act are openly
disregarded and no efforts are made to prepare electoral rolls for a period of 5 or 6 years. There is something to be said, in favour of such a
construction. At any rate it is reasonable. But where the section, is worded in such a way that it gives; no scope to make such distinctions, is
obvious effect must be carried out. It may be that the Legislature never contemplated such flagrant disobedience of the directions of the Act as it
has happened in Trichengode. We do not know why they did not contemplate such disobedience. Either the Legislature might have thought that
some higher authority would have set it right or such instances would not happen. In the present case, I am informed, that the Trichenigode Union
was not dissolved for its failure to carry out the provisions of the Act in this matter but really for some other delinquency, so that, but for the
delinquency in some other directions, the Union Board would have gone on disregarding the provisions of the Act for many years without anybody
finding fault with it. Bit we are not concerned with all these things. The Act says that the electoral-roll published in any year, shall remain in force till
the publication pi a fresh electoral-roll. If it is intended that such a provision should apply only during the course of the year, there is nothing to
prevent the Legislature from saying so, that is, ''shall remain in force till the termination of that year.'' The learned Advocate-General suggested that
there may be some delay in the preparation of the roll for the next year.'' If it is intended that the provision should operate until the termination of
the next year, then there is nothing to prevent the Legislature from saying so, that is from saying ''shall remain in force till the termination of the next
following year.'' Once we begin to make distinctions of this kind, we do not know where tie line is to be drawn. Until the Legislature makes its
intention plainer, my plain duty is to give effect to the clause of the Act. Moreover, having regard to Section 45(1) of the Government Notification,
the policy of the Legislature is that no time should be lost in the reconstitution of another Union Board. If one is to wait for a proper electoral-roll
and then only to proceed with the election of the members of the Board, the Board will not be constituted immediately. Rules relating to the
electoral-roll say that a tentative list should be published on the 30th of April and the final list on the 1st of July. In the present case the Special
Officer was appointed in November 1928. He has to wait till July 1929. Then there are nominations to be made. The constitution of the Board
would be delayed much longer than is contemplated by the term ''immediately'' in Section 45 or in the G. O. Apparently the policy of the Act is
that the old electoral-roll should continue in order to avoid delays of several kinds, namely, accidental delay for a few months or for a year, delay
due to deliberate disobedience to the superior authorities, or gross incompentency on the part of the Union Board, etc. That is the intention of the
Legislature and there is no use of complaining against it. To proceed upon an antiquated electoral-roll is really to deprive several voters of their
votes. This may be so or may not be so, it is my duty to give effect to the section. The learned Advocate General relied on a decision in K.R. M.
Singaram Chettiar v. K. Srinavasa Iyengar 102 Ind. Cas. 270 : 50 M. 726 : 25 L.W. 594 : (1927) M.W.N. 197 : 38 M.L.T. 253 : AIR 1927
Mad. 462 : 53 M.L.J. 545. That case refers Jo election of member to a Temple Committee constitute under the Hindu Religious Endowments Act.
That Act directs a register to be kept, It appears from the facts of that case that for 8 years no register has been revised and my brothers
Kumaraswami Sastriar and Curgenven, JJ., held that the election was not proper. But in that Act there is no section like Section 51(4) of the Local
Boards Act. The conclusion in that case can only apply to cases where there is no such section. This, is clear from the judgment of Curgenven, J.,
at page 731 Page of 50 M.--[Ed.] where he says: ""Unless there is some provision to the contrary the validity of the election depends upon the
regularity of the procedure according to which it is held..."" Here we have got an express provision that one kind of irregularity, he wever, gross will
not render an election invalid, namely, the want of a fresh electoral-roll. For these reasons I do not see any reason to limit the operation of Section
51(4) of the Local Boards Act. I set aside the order of the District Judge he lding that the election of the petitioners is perfectly valid and dismiss
the 1st respondent''s petition in the Court below with costs of the petitioners both here and in the Court below. I also set aside the order of the
District Judge directing the he lding of a fresh election after the preparation of a new electoral-roll.