K. Narasimhiah v. H. C. Singri Gowda

Da.s Gupta, J. has been offered to a person but not accepted by him. Ten-

dering of a notice is in law therefore giving of a notice e".en though the person to whom it is tendered refuses to accept it. We can find however no authority or principle for the proposi-tion that as soon as the person with a legal duty to give the notice despatches the notice to the address of the person to whom it has to be given, the giving is complete. We are there-fore of opinion that the High Court was wrong in' thinking that the notices were given to all the Councillors on the !0th October. In our opinion, the notice given to five of the Coun-cillors was of less than three clear days.

The question then is: Is the provision of three clear days• notice mandatory, ie., does the failure to give such notice make the proceedings of the meeting and the resolution pas-sed there invalid? The use of the word "shall" is not conclu-sive on the question. As in all other matters of statutory con-struction the decision of this question depends on the ascer-tainment of the legislature's intention. Was it the legislature's intention in making the provision that the failure to comply with it shall have the consequence of making what is done in-valid in law? That is the question to be answered. To ascer-· tain the intention the Court has to examine carefully the ob-ject of the statute, the consequence that may follow from in-sisting on a strict observance of the particular provision and above all the general scheme of the other provisions of which it forms a part. In the State of U.P. v. Manbodhan Lal Srivas-tava (') where the question arose whether the provisions of Art. 320(3)(c) of the Constitution are mandatory (which provi-des that the Union· Public Service Commission or the State Public Service Commission shall be consulted on certain dis-ciplinary matters), this Court laid stress on the fact that the proviso to. the Article contemplates that the President or the Governor as the case may be make regulations specifying the matters in which either in general or in any parti-cular class or in any particular circumstances, it shall not be necessary for the Public Service Commission to be consulted: Speaking for the Court Sinha J. observed:- "If the provisions of Art. 320 were of a mandatory character, the Constitution would not have left it to the discretion of the Head of the Excutive Gov-ernment to undo those provisions by making regu-lations to the contrary."

This appears to have been the main reason for the court's 1961 decision that the provisions of Article 320 (3)(c) are not man-Xamimhiah datory. Naturally, strong reliance has been placed on this deci-v sion on behalf of the respondents. It is pointed out that while Il.O. Smgn Gowda providing that three clear days' notice of special general meet· Daa Gupta, J. ing shall be given to the Councillors, the legislature said in the same breath that "in cases of great urgency, notice of such shorter period as is reasonable should be given to the Council-lors of a special general meeting." The decision of what should be considered to be a case of "great urgency" was left enlirely to the President or the Vice-President on whom the duty Lo call such a meeting is given under s.27(2). It is urged by the learnecl Counsel that if the intention of the legislature had been to make the service of three clear days' notice man-datory it would not, have left the discretion of giving notice for a shorter p~riod for some of the special general meetings in this manner. We see considerable force in this argument. The very fact that while three clear days' notice is not to be given of all special general meetings and for some such meet· ings notice only of such shorter period as is reasonable has to be given justifies the conclusion that the "three clear days", mentioned in the section was given by the legislature as only a measure of what it considered reasonable.

It is necessary also to remember that the main object of giving the notice is to make it possible for the Councillors to so arrange their other business as to be able to attend the meeting. For an ordinary general meeting the notice provided is of seven clear days. That is expected to give enough time for the purpose. But a lesser period-of three clear days'---is considered sufficient for "special general meetings"' generally. The obvious reason for providing a shorter period for such meetings is that these are considered more important meetings and Councillors are expected to make it convenient to attend these meetings even at the cost of some inconvenience to themselves. Where the special general meeting is to dispose of some matter of great urgency it is considered that a period of even less than three clear days' notice would be sufficient.

A consideration of the object of these provisions and the manner in which the object is sought to be achieved indicates that while the legislature did intend that crdinarily the notice as mentioned should be given it could not have intend-ed that the fact that the notice is of less than the period men. tioned in the section and thcs the Councillors had less time than is ordinarily considered reasonable to arrange his other business to be free to attend the meeting, should have the seri-ous result of making the proceedings of the meeting invalid. 1964 It is important to notice in this connection one of the pro-

visions in s. 36 of the Act. lt is in these words : - Narasimhiah

v. "No resolution of a municipal council or any com-0. Singri Gowda

mittee appointed under this Act shall be deemed Das Gupta, J. invalid on account of any irregularity in the

service of notice upon any councillor or member provided the proceedings of the municipal council or committee were not prejudicially affect-ed by such irregularity."

• v It is reasonable to think that the service of notice men-tioned in this provision refers to the giving of notice to the Councillors. Quite clearly, any irregularity in the manner of giving the notice would be covered by the words "irregularity in the service of the notice upon any Councillor". lt appears to us however reasonable to think that in making such a pro-vision in s.36 the legislature was not thinking only of irregu-larity of the mode of service but also of the omission to give notice of the full period as required.

It is interesting to notice in this connection that the . English law as regards meetings of. borough councils and

county councils contain a specific provision that want of service of a summons to attend the meeting (which is required to be served on every member of the council) will not affect the validity of the meeting. It may be presumed that the legis-lature which enacted the Mysore Town Municipalities Act, 1951, was aware of these provisions in English law. It has not gone to the length of saying that the failure to serve the notice will not make the meeting invalid. It has instead said that any irregularity in the service of notice would not make a resolu-tion of the Council invalid provided that the proceedings were not prejudicially affected by such irregularity. The logic of making such a provision in respect of irregularity in the ser-vice of notice becomes strong if the fact that the notice given was short of the required period is considered an irregularity

The existence of this provision in s.36 is a further reason for thinking that the provision as regards any motion or pro-position of which notice must be given in s.27(3) is only direc-tory and not mandatory.

We are therefore of opinion that the fact that some of the Councillors received less than three clear days' notice of the meeting did not by itself make the proceedings of the meetin!! or the resolu~ion passed there invalid. These would be invalid only if the proceedings were prejudicially affected by such irre-gularity. As already stated. nineteen of the twentv Councillors attended the meeting. Of these 19, 15 voted in favour of the resolution· of no-confidence against the appellant. There is thus absolutely no reason for thinking that the proceedings of 19G4 the meeting were prejudicially affected by the "irregularity in the service of notice." v. IJ. C. Singri Gou•d(_. We have therefore come to the conclusion that the failure to give three clear days' notice to some of the Councillors did n,,.., Gup'"• J. not affect the validity of the meeting or the resolution of no confidence passed there against the appellant.

In the result, we dismiss the appeal with costs.

Appeal dismissed.

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 223 of 1964. Appeal by special leave from the Judgment and order dated December 6, 1963 of the Mysore High Court in Writ Petition No. 2273 of 1963.

S.K. Venkataranga Iyengar and R. Gopalakrislman, for the appellant.

N.S. Krishna Rao and Girish Chandra, for respondents No. I, 2, 4--10, 12-15.

April 1, 1964. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

DAs GUPTA, J.-Is the requirement of three clear days' Das Gupta, J. notice for the holding of a special general meeting as embodi-ed in s. 27(3) of the Mysore Town Municipalities Act 1951, a mandatory provision? That is the main question which arises for decision in this appeal.

The appellant was elected as the President of Holenarsi-pur Municipality on September II, 1962. At a special gene-ral meeting of the Municipal Council held on October 14, 1963, a resolution was passed in the following terms:-

"This Council has no confidence in the Municipal

President of Holenarsipur Municipality."

On November 2, I 963 Mr. Narasimhiah, the President of the Council applied to the High Court of Mysore under Art.

226 of the Constitution praying for the issue of an appropriate writ quashing the proceedings of the meeting which culminat-ed in the resolution of no confidence against him. Prayers were made also for some consequential reliefs.

Holenarsipur Municipality has twenty Councillors. Thir-teen out of the them sent a request to the President to convene a special general meeting to discuss a resolution expn;ssing no confidence in him as President. This request was handed over to the President on 25th September 1963. As however he did not take any steps for convening the meeting the Vice President acted in the matter-calling a meeting to discuss the resolution to express no confidence in the Pre-sident. A notice under the Vice-President's signature stat-ing that it was prgposed to hold a special general body meeting 1964 of the Municipality on the 14th October 1963 at 10 A.M. in

the office premises and asking the members to be present in v. time was served on the Councillors. One copy of the notice H.O. S·i1t!Jri Gou'tla was also posted up at the Municipal Office as required by

Das Gupta, .1. 27(3) of the Mysore Town Municipalities Act, 1951 (herein-

after referred to as "the Act"). The notice bore the d;tte 10th October 1963. On fifteen of the twenty Councillors the notice was personally served on that very date, i.e., the 10th October. On three of the Councillors, v_iz., the President Narasimhiah, Mr. Dasappa and Mr. Sanniah, the notice was served on the 13th October. It was served on Councillor Mirza Mohammad Hussain on the 12th October and on the Councillor R. G. Vaidyanatha on the I Ith October 1963.

When the meeting was held on October I 4, 1963, nine-teen of the twenty Councillors were present. The President, Mr. Narasimhiah was among them. He claimed to preside over the meeting. But, ultimately, he appears to have left the meeting. The meeting was then held under the presidentship of the Vice President Mr. Singri Gowda. The no-confidence motion against the President was moved and was passed, fif-teen members having voted for it.

In challenging the legality of the proceedings of this meeting of I 4th October and the validity of the resolution of no confidence passed there, ·the petitioner urged three prin-cipal grounds. The first is that the requisite three days' notice was not served on all the members and so the meeting was not validly held. The second ground urged was that the meeting cannot be said to be properly held as be was not allowed to preside and the Vice-President presided, and thus s.24(1)(a) of the Act was contravened. Thirdly, it was urged that the re-quisition for moving the resolution of no confidence did not comply with the proviso to s.23(9) of the Act as 15 days' notice was not given of the intention to move the resolution.

The High Court held that on the materials before it, it was not possible to pronounce as to the circumstances under which the Vice-President presided at the meeting. So, the High Court rejected the contention that there was any contraven-tion of s.24(l)(a) of the Act. The case made in the pe_tition that 15 days' notice had not been given of the intention to move the resolution does not appear to have been pressed at the bearing; as there is no mention in the judgment of any such argument. On the question regarding the failure. to serve three days' notice of the meeting on all the Councillors, the High Court followed its own decision in another Writ Petition No. 2280 of 1963 and rejected the petitioner's contention. The judgment in Writ Petition No .. 2280 of 1963 which was pro-duced before us shows that the High Court took the view that as the notices were sent on the 10th October they must he 1964 held to have been given on that date even though they were NarairimhW. actually served on the I Ith, 12th and 13th; but, apart from v: that the High Court was of opinion that the provision about H.c. 8•119"- three days' notice was only directory and not mandatory and na. lhpta, J. so the omission to give notice would not affect the validity of the resolution.

All the three grounds raised in the petition were urged before us in support of the appeal. As regards the petitioner's contention that the meeting was not held in accordance with law as he was not allowed to preside, we are of opinion, on a consideration of what material there is on the record, that it was after he left the meeting that the Vice President took the chair and thereafter the no confidence resolution was moved and passed. There can therefore be no question of any con-travention of the requirement that the President shall preside.

There is, our opinion, no substance also in the contention that the prOIViso to s.23(9) was contravened. The proviso runs thus:-

"Provided that no such resolution shall be moved un-

less notice of the resolution is signed by not less than one-third of the whole number of the Coun-cillors and at least fifteen days' notice has been given of the intention to move the resolution." Admittedly, the notice was signed by more than one-third of the whole number of Councillors. It is said, however, that fifteen days' notice of the intention to move the resolution was not given. This argument which Mr. Iyengar addressed to us, but which does not appear to have been urged before the High Court-proceeds on th6 assumption that fifteen days' notice of the intention to move the resolution has to be given not only to the President but also to the other Councillors. We do not think that that assumption is justified. In our opinion, what. is required is that fifteen days' notice of the intention to move the resolution has to be given to the .President. In other words, all that is required is that before the resolution is ac-tually moved the President has got fifteen days' notice. In the present case, the meeting was held on October 14 and the President received the notice on the 25th September. There was thus more than 15 days' notice given to him.

This brings us to the main contention that three days' notice of the special general meeting was not given and so the meeting is invalid. We find it difficult to agree with the High Court that "sending" the notice amounts to ·'crivina" the notice. • Q Q 1964 "Giving" of anything as ordinarily understood in the J.l arasimhiah English language is not complete unless it has reached the

v. hands of the person to whom it has to be given. In the eye of H.C. Singri Gowda law however giving is complete in many matters where it