- (1.)THE non-applicant had placed some building material (Malva) upon the ground level of a street and the Municipal Committee, Lashkar after issuing a notice to the non-applicant summarily removed the moveable encroachment. The Municipal Committee applied to the Magistrate for recovering expenses from the non-applicant. The Magistrate dismissed this application and a revision against this order was dismissed by the learned District and Sessions Judge. The Municipal Committee has therefore come up in revision to this Court.
(2.)MR. Swamisaran, learned Counsel for the non-applicant, has raised a preliminary objection contending that the order of the Magistrate is not liable to revision under Section 435 of the Indian Criminal Procedure Code.
(3.)I have no doubt that the power which the Magistrate exercises in respect of any prosecution, under Section 159 or Chapter 9 of Gwalior Municipal Act, is a judicial power and any order made by him in these prosecutions will be the order of an inferior Criminal Court liable to revision by this Court, I am not sure however whether the same can be said of an order passed by him on an application for recovering the cost of the work from the person in default under Section 153 of the Gwalior Municipal Act or as an arrear of tax or of assessment under Section 78. The power which a Magistrate exercises under these sections is ordinarily of a ministerial nature and in certain cases he has also to deal with questions of civil liability. In neither case he exercises his power as an inferior Criminal Court, and, therefore, in my opinion, his order cannot be revised by this Court under Section 435 Criminal Procedure Code.
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