Statutory disqualification can operate on existing office-holders where legislative intent clearly shows retrospective effect.

A statutory disqualification under Section 14(1)(J-2) of the Bombay Village Panchayats Act was construed to apply to persons already holding office when the amendment commenced. The Court reasoned that a disqualifying provision is not subject to an inflexible presumption of prospectivity; where the language and legislative intent indicate application to sitting members, effect must be given to that command. On that construction, no vested right existed to continue in office despite the new disability, and the disqualification was upheld against the incumbent member.

---

---

Issues: Whether Section 14(1)(J-2) of the Bombay Village Panchayats Act, 1958, which disqualifies a person who has been elected as Councillor of a Zilla Parishad or as a member of the Panchayat Samiti from continuing as a member of a Panchayat, operates retrospectively so as to apply to persons already holding office on the date of its commencement.

Analysis: The amended provision created a disqualification and reflected a clear legislative policy that a person should not hold two elected posts under the constitutional scheme of grassroots democracy. A disqualifying provision is not governed by an inflexible presumption of prospectivity. Where the language and intendment of the statute show that it applies to sitting members as well as future entrants, effect must be given to that legislative command. The Court held that the amendment, though brought into force later, by necessary implication covered persons already in office and therefore did not confer any vested right to continue notwithstanding the new disability.

Conclusion: Section 14(1)(J-2) was held to be retrospective in effect and applicable to the appellant, and the disqualification was upheld.

Final Conclusion: The challenge to the disqualification failed because the amended provision was construed as operating on existing members as well as future cases.

Ratio Decidendi: A statutory disqualification may operate retrospectively when the legislative intent to apply it to existing office-holders is clear from the language and necessary implication of the provision.

---