RAJENDRA KUMAR! BAJPAI v. RAM ADHAR YADAV & Ors.

After the amendment of 1966, as election petitions are to be tried by the High Court, a Court of Record, s. 87, which is based on the repealed s. 90, is sJJffi~ cient to conta:.O the entire procedure to be adopted by the High Court in trying election petitions. Section 87 is of widest amplitude so as to cover the entire procedure mentioned in the Code of Civil Procedure with only two exceptions, (a) when the Act contains express provis!.on for certain matters which are in~ consistent with the procedure prescribed by the Code; and (b) when a particula.r provision ·of the Code is either expressly or by necessary intendment excluded by the Act. That is why a provision like the repealed s. 92 is unnecessary; and it cannot be contended that sIDce Par1iament repealed that section, Parliament in tended that the provisions of 0. XI, C.P.C., should not apply to election petitions tried by the Hil:h Court, f258A-E: 269C-Dl Sitaranz Hirachand Bir/a v. Yograisiligh Shankarsingh Parihar and others, AIR 1953 Born. 293, Durvodhan v. Sitaram and others AIR 1970 All. l; Jugal Kishore v. Dr, BaJdev Prakash AIR 1968 Punj, 152 (F.B.) and Keshari Lal Kavi and another v. Narain Prqkash and others, AIR 1969 Raj. 75, referred to. Dr. Jagjit Singh v. Giani Kartar Singh and others A.l.R. 1966 S.C. 773, and V. K. Sakleha v. Jagjiwan [1972] I S.C.C. 826, followed. (4) Merely because in lnnmati Mallappa Basappa v. Desai Basavaraj Ayya· ppa and others [1959] S.C.R. 61 J it was held that the procedure contained in 0. 23, r. 1, C.P.C. does not apply to election petit!.ons it could not be contended that 0. XI, C.P.C., would not also be applicable to election petitions. Order 23 r. 1 cannot be equated with the provisions of 0. XI. Having regard to the natur~ of an election petition which is a matter of moment and concern to the entire constituency the notion of abandonment of the claim or withdrawal is absolutely foreign to the scope of such proceeding<; and must, therefore, be held to be ex~ duded by the necessary intendment of s. 87 itself. [260H-261 B, D-EJ 256 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1976] 1 s.c.R. CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 104 of 1975. Appeal by special leave from the judgment and o~der da~ the 12th December, 1974 of the Allahabad High Court m Apphcat10n Paper No. A-53 in Election Petition No. 30 of 1974. Yogeshwar Prasad and Rani Arora, for the appellant. K. C. Agarwala and K. M. L. Srivastava, for respondent no. 1. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by fAZAL ALI, J.-This appeal by special '.eave involves an. imcr~ pretation of the scope and ambit of s. 87 ot the }\eprescntation .of the People Act, 1951, as .ami; nd'1 by. Act 47 o.f 1966. The short point that fails for deterrrunat10n m this appeal ~s as to whether or not the provisioni; of 0. XI of the Code of Civil Procedure can be · applied to the trial of election petitions in the High Court by force of s. 87 of the said Act. For the purpose of brnV1ty, the Representa tion of the People Act, 1951 shall be referred to as 'the Act of 1951'. and the Representation of the People Act as amended by Act 47 o! 1966 as 'the Act'. The circumstances under which this appeal arises may be succinctly stated as follows. An election for the U.P. Legislative Assembly for 275 Allahabad North Assembly Constituency was held on February 26, 1974. Irr this election the appellant was a candidate pnt up by the Congress Ruling party and his election was contested by the first respondent Ram Adhar Yadav who was set up by the Sa.mukta Socialist party. The appellant was declared duly elected in the said election and the respondent No. 1 was defeated. The respondent No. 1 filed an election petition being Election Petition No. 30 of 1974 in the High Court of Allahabad some time in April 197 4 challenging the election of the appellant on various grounds. The appellant filed a detailed written statement denying all the allegations made by the first respondent in his petition. The election pe~tion was assigned to J. M. L. Sinha, J., who framed a In October 1974 respondent nurnbel" of issues on October 4, 1974. No. 1 filed an application being Paper No. A /53 under 0. XI, r. J of the Code of Civil Procedure for grant of leave to respondent No. 1 to deliver interrogatories in writing for the examination of the appel lant and filed certain interrogatories along with his application. The apP".!lant filed her objections being Paper No. A/54 to the saic application. conte':1'1ing, inter. alia, that the p~ocedure prescribed under O.XI relatmg to mterrogatones was not apphcable to the trial of elec· tion. petitions in t~e High Court and was not covered by s. 87 of the Act. The application filed by the first respondent and the objections of the appellant came up for consideration before the leamed Single J~gc who by his order d~ted December 12, 1974, held that the pro v1~1ons of O.XI. fu!lY apohed to the election petitions and accordingly reie~ted the ob1ect10ns filed by the appellant. Hence this appeal by special leave. · A c D E G H .... ~ ' • .J ' • RAJENDRA KUMAR! v. RAM ADHAR (Fazal Ali, ]. ) 25 7 A It appears that under the Act of 1951 the power to try election petitions was conferred on the Tribunal and s. 92 of that Act ex pressly conferred powers under 0 .XI of the Code of Civil Procedure on the Tribunal. The relevant portions of s. 92 of the Act of 1951 may be extracted thus : "The Tribunal shall have the powers which are vested in a court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (Act V of 1908), when trying a suit in respect of the following matters : (a) discovery and inspection; x x x x x c (g) issuing commissions for the examination of witnesses, and may summon and examine s110 nwtu any person whose evidence appears to it to be material; and shall be deemed to be a civil court within the mean- ing of sections 480 and 482 of the Code of Crimi- nal Procedure, 1898 (Act V of 1898)." .. ~· , .. By the Amendment Act 4 7 of 1966 this section was, however, deleted mad s. 90 of the Act of 1951 was replaced by s. 87 of the Act which was the same as s. 90 of the Act of 1951. D Mr. Yogeshwar Prasad counsel appearing for the appellant has submitted two points before us. In the first place he contended that the provisions regarding inspection and discovery and interrogatories as contained in O.XI of the Code of Civil Procedure are not an· inte gral part of the procedure in a civil suit but are special powers con tained in the Code and cannot, therefore, be made applicable to elec In ampli tion petitions which are proceedings of a special nature. fication of this argument it was argued that the history of the English Law as also the Eiection Law of our country before independence would show that the procedure contained in O.XI of the Code of Civil Procedure was not made applicable to the trial of election petitions. It is, however, not necessary for us to examine the history of this matter because the Act of 1951 settles the issue. When the Parlia ment expressly conferred powers contained in O.XI on the Tribunal under the statutory provision of s. 92 of the Act of 1951, it must be presumed to have made a drastic departure from the old Jaw on the subject and particularly the English Law. In view of this en actment, therefore, it cannot be said that the provisions of our Elec tion Law, particularly in regard to s. 92 of The Act of 1951 were in pari materia with the provisions of the English Law on the sub""'1. In fact s. 92 incorporating the entire provisions of 0.XI of the Code of Civil Procedure was expressly enacted so that the elected repre sentatives also mav be subiected to the same law of the land such as the Code of Civil· Procedure as any other citizen. In these circums tances, we are unable to apply the English Law to the Act in order to hold that the principles contained in 0. XI of the Code of Civil Procedure are excluded from the trial of election oetitions. The first contention put forward by counsel for the appellant must, therefore, fail. G I H 258 SUPRl!MI! COURT REPORT [1976] 1 S.C.R. It was then contended that even though express powers for ins- · A pection and discovery were conferred on the Tribunal under s. 92 of the Act of 19 51, yet by virtue of the amendment under Act 4 7 of 1966 this express provision was deliberately deleted, which shows that the Parliament intended to give special protection to the elected representatives so as not to compel them to answer interrogatories. This is no doubt an attractive argument, but on closer scrutiny it does not appear to be tenable. The argument completely overlooks the object of the Amendment Act 47 of 1966. By virtue of this enact ment a basic change in the trial of election petitions was sought to be introduced. Before 1966 the power to try election petitions was conferred on the Tribunal which was not a civil court and, therefore, special powers had to be conferred on it. In fact clause (g) of s. 92 ot the Act of 1951 extracted above clearly shows that the Tribunal was deemed to be a civil court hence there was the necessity of con ferring special powers contained in O.XI of 'he Code of Civil Proee- dure on the Tribunal to avoid further doubts. After the amendment of 1966 as the election petitions were to be tried by 'he High Court, s. 87 of the Act which is based on s. 90 of the Act of 1951 was con-. sidered sufficient to contain the en'ire procedure to be adopted by the High Court in trying the election petitions which were to be in accordance with the Code of Civil Procedure as far as applicable. Since the High Court is a court of record and a civil court is not, it was not at all necessary for the Parliament to have enacted a separate section like s. 92 of the Act of 1951 and that is whys. 92 was considered to b~ unnecessary rn view of the change of forum and was deleted under the amended Act. From this it cannot be contended that the Parliament intended that the provisions of 0. XI of the Code of Civil Procedure should not apply to the election petitions tried by the High Court un- der the Act. Counsel for the 'appellant was unable to cite any authority directly ra point. On the other hand, the view which we have taken in this case, is amply supported by number of authorities of this Court as well as other High Courts. c D To begin with, this Court as far back as 1951, while considering ss. 90 and 92 of the Act of 1951 observed in Harish Chandra Bajpai v. Tri/oki Singh( 1) thus: l "The second contention urged on behoalf of the appellants is that if the provisions of the Civil Procedure Code are held to be applicable in their entirety to the trial of election peti tions, theia there was no need to provide under s. 92 that the Tribunal was to have the powers of courts under the Code of Civil Procedure in respect of the matters mentioned therein. as those powers would pass to it under s,. 90(2). But this argu ment overlooks that the scope of s. 90(2) is in a material particular different from that of s. 92. While under s. 90(2) the provisions of the Civil Proeednre Code are applicable only subject to the provisions of the Act and the rules made thereunder, there is no such limitation as regards the powers cd,1ferred by s. 92. It was -obviously the intention of legislature to put the powers of the Tribunal in respect of (I) [1957] ~. C. R. 370. IL A B c D E F G H RA.TENDRA KlfM1iRI v. RAM .AbHAR ('Fazal Ali, J.) 259 the matter's mentioned in s. 92 as distinguished from the other provisions of the Code on a higher pedestal, and as observed in Sitaram v. Yograjsingh (A.l.R. (1953) Born. 293), they are the irreducible minimum which the Tribunal is to possess. ; (3) It is then argued that s. 92 confers powers on Tribunal in respect of certain matters, while s. 90(2) applies the Civil Procedure Code i,1 respect of matters relating procedure, that there is a distinction between power and procedure, and that the granting of amendment being a power and not a matter of procedure, it can be claimed only under s. 92 and not under s. 90(2). We do not see a'ny anti thesis between 'procedure' in s. 90(2) and 'powers' under s. 92. When the respondent applied to the Tribunal amendment, he topk a procedural step, and that, he was clearly entitled to do under s. 90(2). The question of power arises only with refere1,1ce to the order to be passed on the petition by the Tribunal. Is it to be held that the presentation of a petition is competent, but the passing of any order thereon is not ? We are of opinion that there is no substance in this contention either." The Court porated out that the object of s. 92 was merely to secure powers of the Court in respect of the matters mentioned therein ·and that there was no antithesis between ss. 90(2) and s. 92 of the Act of 1951. Similarly in Sitaram Hirachand Bir/a v. Yograjsingh Shankarsing Parihar and others,( 1) Chagla, C.J., clearly pointed out that the distinc 'a'.o.d tion between the power and procedure was completely artificial a distinction without any difference. The learned Chief Justice speak ing for the Court observed as follows : "In ·our opinion, Mr. Kotwal is right, because on prin ciple it is difficult to make a distinction between procedure and the powers of a Court as suggested by Mr. Patwardhan. The whole of the Civil Procedure Code, oas its very 1rnme im In the course of procedure the plies, deals with procedure. Court always exercises powers and when the Court is exercis ing its powers, it is exercising them in order to carry out the procedure laid down in the Code. Therefore procedure and powers in this sense are really interchangeable terms and it is difficult to draw a line between procedure and powers. The powers cdaferred under s. 92 is not any subsf'antive power, it is a procedural power, a power intended for the purposes of carrying out the procedure before the Tribunal." In a recent decision of the Full Bench of the Allahabad High Court in Duryodhmt v. Sitaram and others(') the Court held that the matters mentioned in s. 92 appertain to the procedure for trial, and oare also attracted by virtue of s. 90(1). The Court observed as follows : (1) A. I. R. 1963 Born. 293. (2) ZA. I. R. 1970- AIL I. 260 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [19761 1 e.c.a. "In my opinidn, the matters mentioned in Section 92 . appertain to the procedure for trial, and are also attracted by virtue of Section 90( 1). They wero separately stated in Section 92 to make them operate in spite of any provision to the contrary in the Act or the Rules, and not with a view curtail the amplitude of Sec. 90(1). The provisions of 0.9, Rr. 8 and 9, Civil P.C. even if they deal with powers, would be procedural powers and be attracted by virtue of Section 90(1) ." While dealit.1g with the scope and ambit of s.90 of the Act of 1951 this Court in Dr. lagjit Singh v. Giani Kartar Singh and others(1) observed as follows : "The true legal position in this matter is no longer in doubt. Section 92 of powers of the Tribunal, in terms, confers on it, by Cl. (a), the powers which are vested in a Court under the Code of Civil Procedure when trylug a suit, inur alia, in respect of discovery and inspection." the Act which defines A c A full in Bench of the Punjab High Court in Jugal Kislwre v. Dr. Baldev. D PrakasJi,(') while construing the provisions of s. 87 of the Act clearly pointed out that the High Court was a Court of record ruid possessed all inherent powers of a Court while trying election petitions. In this colinection, Grover, J ., observed as follows : "It is quite clear that there is no distinct provision in the Act laying down any particular or special procedure which is to be followed when the petitioner cboolles to commit de fault either in appearance or in production of evidence or generally in prosecuting the petition. The provisidns of the Code of Civil Procedure would, therefore, be applicable under I am further of the opinion ihat any Section 87 of the Act. argunlent which could be pressed and adopted for saying that the inherent powers of the Court could not be exercised in such circumstances would be of no avail now as the High Court is a Court of record a!nd possesses all inherent powers of a Court while trying election petitions." We fuly approve of the line of reasoning adopted by the High Court in that case. The Rajastban High Court in Keshari Lal Kavi and another v. Narain Prakash and others(•) followed the Punjab case and has taken the same view. F G Some reliance was placed by the learned counsel for the appellant on the decision in lnamati Mallappa Basappa v. Desai Basavarai · Ayyappa and others, (4) where this Court held that the procedure contained in 0. 23, r. 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure did not apply to .election petitions and, therefore, on a parity of reasoning 0. 11 C.P.C. also could not be applicable to the trial of electiCJlll petitions. H (I) A. I. R. 1966 S. C. 773. (J) A. r. R. 1969 Raj. 75. (2) A. I. R.1968 Punj.152 (F. B.). (4) [1959] S. C. R. 611. A B c D RAJENDRA KUMAR! v. Ri\M ADHAR (Fazal Ali, !.) 261 We are, however, unable to agree with this argument. The provision contained in O. 23 r. 1 cannot be e<:juated with the provisions of 0. XI because the election petition being a matter of moment and concern ing the entire cdnstituency there could be no question of the election petition being withdrawn by the petitioner who had filed the same. This was highlighted by this Court in that case when the Court observed as follows : "Orde,r 23, r.1, sub-rule (2), provides for liberty bei%1 given by the Court to a party withdrawing or abandoninJ! a part of his claim to file a fresh suit on the same cause of aciion, if so advised. in the very nature of things such liberty could '"°t be reserved to a petitioner in an election petition. x On a due consideration of all .these provisionS, we arc of opinion that the provisions of 0. 23, r, 1, do not apply to the' election petitions and it would not be open to a petitioner to withdraw or abandon a part of his claim once· an election petition was presented to the Election Commission." x x x x x x Having regard to the nature of the election petition, the notion of abandonment of the claim or withdrawal is absolutely foreign tO the scope of such proceedings and must, therefore, be held to be excluded by necessary intendment of s. 87 of the Act itself. This authority; therefore, does not appear to be of any assistance to counsel fo{ the. · appellant. E The matter, however, seems to be concluded by a recent decision of this Court in Virendra Kumar Saklecha v. lagjiwan and others(!) where the Chief Justice speaking for the Court interpreted s. 87 of the Act and observed as follows : . F "Under Section 87 of the Act every election petition shall be tried by the High Court as noarly as may be in accordance with the procedure applicable under the Code of Civil Proce dure to the trial of suits. Under Section 102 of the Code the High Court may make rules regulating their own procedure and the procedure of the Civil Courts subject to their super vision and may by such rules vary, alter or add to any of the rules in the First Schedule to the Code." G I , H The relevant part of s. 87 runs thus : "(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act and of any rules made thereunder, every electio.1 petition shall be tried by the High Court, as nearly as may be, in accordance with the procedure applicable under the Code of Civil Procedure, 19()8 to the trial of suits:" A bare perusal of this section leads to the irresistible conclusion that election petitions shall have to be tried in accordance with the proce- (I) [1972] I S. C. C. 826. 262 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1976] 1 S.C;R, dure applicable under the code of Civil Procedure to the trial of suits. In other words, election petitions would be tried like ordinary civil suits . A B . We are unable to agree with counsel for the appellant that 0. XI does 1,1ot form part of the trial of suits but is a special procedure. This is repelled by a reference to 0. XI of the Code of Civil Procedure it- self. It will appear that 0. X relates to the procedure for examina- tion of parties by the Court and 0. XI is a part of that procedure, be cause it provides that where witnesses are not able to appear before In the Court personally they are examined through interrogatories. these circumstances, therefore, 0. XI is as much a part of the procedure as 0. X relating to trial of suits in mutters regarding summoning of In these circumstances it cannot be said witnesses, documents etc. that s. 87 of the Act either expressly or impliedly excludes the appli- cation of O. XI of the Code of Civil Procedure. In fact we are clearly of opinion that s. 87 of the Act is of the widest amplitude so as to cover the entire procedure mentioned in the Code of Civil Procedure with only two exceptions-(i) where the Act contains express provision for certain matters which are inconsistent with the procedure prescribed by the Code; and (ii) where a particular provision of the Code of Civil Procedure is either expressly or by necessary intendment excluded D by the Act. Subject to these two exceptions, s. 87 is very wide in its I connotation. c We, therefore, agree with the learned Single Judge who was trying the election petition that the application for interrogatories was one of the logical steps in aid of the prosecution of the petiti0',1 and was fully covered by s. 87 of the Act. The second contention raised by counsel for the appellant thns fails. E For the reasons given above, there is no merit in this appeal whicl:. fails and is accordingly dismissed with costs. V.P.S. Appeal dismissed.