Ram Sewak Shukla [ P.I.L. ] vs State Of U.P. Thru. Chief Secy. ...
2015 Latest Caselaw 1860 ALL

HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD, LUCKNOW BENCH
 
 

Chief Justice's Court						     AFR
 

 
Case :- MISC. BENCH No. - 7443 of 2015
 

 
Petitioner :- Ram Sewak Shukla [ P.I.L. ]
 
Respondent :- State Of U.P. Thru. Chief Secy. U.P. Govt. & Ors.
 
Counsel for Petitioner :- Hari Shankar Jain,Ranjana Agnihotri
 
Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C,I P Singh
 

 
Hon'ble Dr. Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud,Chief Justice
 
Hon'ble Shri Narayan Shukla,J.

The petition which has been filed as a public interest litigation seeks a writ of quo warranto in respect to the holding of the office of Chairperson of the Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam by the fourth respondent.

The submission of the petitioner is that the fourth respondent was appointed by a notification dated 30 March 2012 under Section 4 (1) of the Uttar Pradesh Water Supply and Sewerage Act, 19751 and that upon the completion of three years from the date of the notification, he would be deemed to have demitted office. The fourth respondent was on the date of his appointment a Cabinet Minister entrusted with the portfolio of Parliamentary Affairs and Urban Development and it is not in dispute that he has held that office continuously until date.

The submission which has been urged on behalf of the petitioner is that the appointment of the fourth respondent was not ex officio but in his personal capacity. Sub-section (1) of Section 6 of the Act stipulates that the Chairperson of the Nigam, unless appointed ex officio, shall hold office for three years. The submission is that in the present case, the appointment was not ex officio. Hence, the tenure of three years would stand attracted after the expiry of which the fourth respondent would stand denuded of his office. In consequence it has been urged that all his actions performed after 30 March 2015 would be without jurisdiction, null and void.

To bring clarity to the issue which has been raised, we extract the order of appointment of the fourth respondent below:

"mRrj izns'k 'kklu

uxj fodkl vuqHkkx&3

la[;k&[email protected]&3&2012&[email protected]

y[kuÅ fnukad 30 ekpZ] 2012

vf/klwpuk

mRrj izns'k ty laHkj.k ,oa lhoj O;oLFkk vf/kfu;e 1975 ¼m0iz0 vf/kfu;e la[;k&43 lu~ 1975½ dh /kkjk&4¼1½ ds v/khu 'kfDr dk iz;ksx djds Jh jkT;iky egksn;] dk;ZHkkj xzg.k djus dh frfFk ls] Jh eksgEen vkte [kkaW] ek0 ea=h] lalnh; dk;Z ,oa uxj fodkl foHkkx] m0iz0 'kklu dks m0iz0 ty laHkj.k ,oa lhoj O;oLFkk vf/kfu;e 1975 ¼m0iz0 vf/kfu;e la[;k&43 lu~ 1975½ dh /kkjk&3¼1½ ds v/khu xfBr m0iz0 ty fuxe ds v/;{k fu;qDr djrs gSaA

Jhizdk'k flag

fo'ks"k lfpo "

Sub-section (1) of Section 3 provides for the constitution of a Corporation by the name of the Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam. Sub-section (1) of Section 4 provides for a Chairman who is to be appointed by the State Government and members as specified in sub-section (2).

Sub-sections (1) and (2) of Section 4 are as follows:

"(1) The Nigam shall consist of a Chairman appointed by the State Government besides the members specified in sub-section (2).

(2) The members other than the Chairman shall be as follows, namely:

(a) a Managing Director to be appointed by the State Government;

(aa) non-official persons not exceeding three of eminence in social and public life in the State, to be nominated as Vice-Chairman by the State Government.

(b) a Finance Director (to be appointed by the State Government), who shall have experience of matters relating to finance and accounts;

(c) the Secretary to the State Government in the Finance Department, ex officio;

(d) the Secretary to the State Government in-charge of the Water Supply Department, ex officio;

(dd)the Secretary to the State Government in the Planning Department, ex officio;

(e) the Director of Local Bodies, Uttar Pradesh, ex officio;

(f) the Director of Medical and Health Services, Uttar Pradesh, ex officio;

(g) five elected heads of local bodies in the State, to be nominated by the State Government."

Section 6 deals with the terms of the office of the Chairperson and other members and provides as follows:

"6. Terms of office of Chairman and other members.--(1) The Chairman of the Nigam, unless appointed ex officio, shall hold office for three years unless his term is determined earlier by the State Government by notification in the Gazette, and shall be eligible for reappointment.

(2) A person nominated under clause (g) of sub-section (2) of Section 4 shall, unless his term is determined earlier by the State Government hold office for a period of three years or until the expiry of his term of office as elected head of the local body concerned, whichever is earlier, but shall be eligible for reappointment.

(2-A) A person nominated under clause (aa) of sub-section (2) of Section 4 shall, unless his term is determined earlier by the State Government by notification in the Gazette, hold office for a period of three years, and shall be eligible for re-nomination.

(3) The members appointed under clause (a) and clause (b) of sub-section (2) of Section 4 shall hold office on such terms and conditions as the State Government may, by order, specify.

(4) The Chairman or any other member as aforesaid may at any time by writing under his hand addressed to the State Government resign his office, and on such resignation being accepted, he shall be deemed to have vacated his office."

The Chairperson is to be appointed by the State Government. Sub-section (1) of Section 6 provides for the appointment of a Chairperson either ex officio or even otherwise. This is clear from the terminology used by which, unless he is appointed ex officio, the Chairperson of the Nigam is to hold office for three years. In other words, a term of three years is prescribed for a person who is appointed as Chairperson not in an official capacity. Ex officio denotes an appointment which is made by virtue of the fact that a person holds a particular office. Where a person is appointed ex officio, a term of three years is not provided for the simple reason that the tenure of the holder would come to an end sooner if he ceases to hold the office as a holder of which he has been appointed as Chairperson of the Nigam. In this regard, the provisions of Section 4 (2) which provides for the appointment of members other than the Chairperson and those of Section 4 (1) and Section 6 (1) in regard to the Chairperson would have to be contrasted. In the case of members other than a Chairperson, a provision is made for ex officio appointments specifically with reference to the holding of a specified office. This is evident from clauses (c), (d), (dd), (e) and (f) of sub-section (2) of Section 4. Under those provisions, the Secretaries to the State Government in the Finance Department, Water Supply Department, Planning Department and the Directors of Local Bodies and of Medical and Health Services respectively are ex officio members. They are members of the Nigam by virtue of their holding the particular office which is stipulated in clauses (c) to (f) of sub-section (2) of Section 4. On the other hand, insofar as the Chairperson is concerned, the power to appoint is vested in the State Government under Section 4 (1) which when read together with Section 6 (1) indicates that a Chairperson can be appointed either ex officio or even otherwise. Where a person is appointed in an ex officio capacity, the tenure of that person as Chairperson would cease upon his ceasing to hold that office. On the other hand, where the appointment is not ex officio, the person would hold a tenure of three years.

The submission which has been urged on behalf of the petitioner is two fold. Firstly, it has been submitted that the appointment of the fourth respondent was not notified in an ex officio capacity. This submission cannot be accepted for the simple reason that the notification refers to the fourth respondent not merely by name but to his capacity as a Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Urban Development. Another circumstance which can legitimately be taken into consideration is the admitted position that the Jal Nigam falls under the administrative control of the Ministry of Urban Development (Nagar Vikas). The words "unless appointed ex officio" in Section 6 (1) have to be given a purposive meaning. If the submission of the petitioner were taken to its logical conclusion, those words would become redundant. There is no separate provision in the enactment which provides that the Chairperson should only be the holder of a particular office, as in the case of the designation of the ex officio members of the Jal Nigam, as we have noticed, in clauses (c) to (f) of sub-section (2) of Section 4. The order of appointment refers to the capacity of the fourth respondent as Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Urban Development. This is not merely descriptive of the office but an indicator of the appointment being ex-officio. In deducing whether an appointment is ex-officio, no particular incantation or mantra is mandated for to hold otherwise would be to give precedence to form over substance. The substance and essence have to be seen.

Following the well settled principle of interpretation, the words of statute must be given meaning and effect and an interpretation should not be adopted which should render any part of the statutory provision meaningless. The words which the legislature uses cannot be regarded as being without any meaning or implication and must be imparted some significance. A contextual and purposive interpretation must in these circumstances be adopted.

The second submission is that the appointment of the fourth respondent was notified in the official gazette which is claimed to be an indicator of the fact that he was not appointed in an ex officio capacity. In this regard, reliance was placed upon sub-section (3) of Section 4 which provides that the appointment of the Chairperson and members other than ex officio members shall be notified in the gazette. Such an inference cannot be drawn merely on the basis of the fact that the appointment of the fourth respondent was notified in the gazette. A notification by way of abundant caution and following a settled administrative practice cannot affect the nature of the appointment.

The fourth respondent was appointed as Chairperson of the Jal Nigam in his capacity as Cabinet Minister entrusted with the portfolio of Nagar Vikas. Since the appointment in that capacity is an ex officio appointment and the fourth respondent continues to hold the portfolio in the Cabinet, the tenure of three years would not be attracted. Under sub-section (1) of Section 6, the tenure of three years does not apply to ex officio members.

We may note that save and except for the aforesaid ground of challenge which forms the basis of the invocation of the jurisdiction for issuing a writ of quo warranto, the petitioner has not pressed any other issue.

The petition is, accordingly, dismissed. There shall be no order as to costs.

 
Order Date :- 19.8.2015
 
RK
 
			        (S N Shukla, J)      ((Dr D Y Chandrachud, CJ)