MUMBAI: In a significant ruling, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday held that a candidate nominated to a corporation cannot become the leader of the house. The HC held that in a democratic set up no one can get a backdoor entry into the house.
A bench of Justices Amjad Sayed and S G Dige was seized with a plea filed by one Ravindra Dhangekar challenging the appointment of Ganesh Bidkar as the Leader of the House.
As per the facts of the case, Dhangekar and Bidkar contested polls from a civic ward in Pune in 2018, wherein, the former won the elections and was declared elected.
However, Bidkar, a BJP candidate was nominated as a councillor to the Pune Municipal Councillor (PMC) among the three others of the party.
Dhangekar, accordingly challenged his appointment on the ground that the same has been done in violation of the provisions of the Maharashtra Municipal Corporations (MMC) Act.
Notably, the MMC law provides for appointment of only an "elected" candidate as the leader of the house, mayor or any other constitutional post.
The bench noted that the law doesn't permit a "nominated" councillor to be appointed to such constitutional posts. It noted that the law itself doesn't allow a nominated person to participate into any sort of voting within the corporation or council.
"As an example, it may be stated that while considering a motion moved for ‘no confidence’ the nominated Councillors are not even counted as Councillors to consider whether said motion has been passed with requisite majority or not - obviously because the nominated Councillors do not have a right to cast vote," Justice Sayed said.
"The Constitution itself recognizes two separate and distinct classes of Councillors viz. elected and nominated, therefore, it can hardly be disputed that there is a clear distinction between elected and nominated Councillors," the judges added.
"The basic philosophy in nominating such persons as Councillors is to advice the Corporation which may require their expertise for carrying out its duties and perform its functions more efficiently and effectively," the bench said, adding, "Leader of the House is a position or post that is created by the Act and to get recognized as the Leader of the House is a statutory right and not a common law right or a Constitutional right, much less a fundamental right."
The order authored by Justice Sayed, further states, "The principles of a democratic setup and polity need to be adhered to. A person who was not successful in the ward elections cannot by an indirect method or backdoor entry become the Leader of the House, as in the present case."
"The word ‘Leader’ means a person who leads - he must lead by example," the bench remarked adding, "Prima facie, it seems illogical and difficult for us to comprehend that after being defeated by will of the majority at the Ward election by process of ballot, how Bidkar can be eligible to be appointed as ‘Leader of the House’ of a Corporation."
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