S M GENGADARAN Vs. PANACHAYAT BOARD OF SHENBAKKAM AND ORS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner was elected as a member of the Panchayat Board of Shenbakkam on 5th May, 1958. It is not in dispute that prior to his election he had been convicted for offence under Sections 348 and 330 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for three years and that five years had not elapsed from the date of the expiration of the period of the sentence. This would, therefore, have been a disqualification under Section 16(1) of the Madras Village Panchayats Act, 1950, for his election as a member. Apparently nobody took the objection before his election. On a petition by the President of the Panchayat Board filed in February, 1960, under Section 19(1) of the Act, which was O.P. No. 37 of 1960 on the file of the Court of the learned Principal District Munsif, Vellore, it was held that the present petitioner was not qualified to hold office as a member of the Panchayat under Section 17(a) of the Act and that he should, therefore, cease to hold the office. This petition is to quash that Order.

(2.) It is urged that the order of the learned District Munsif was passed without jurisdiction as the disqualification arising out of the conviction was one which existed even prior to the election and that Section 19(1) of the Act has application only to a case of supervening disqualification sustained after an election. This contention raises a question of construction of that section. Section 19(1) reads:

(3.) To answer the question, it is first necessary to examine the scope of Section 13, 15, 16 or 17. The first of the sections states that