1968 (8) TMI 191

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....d by Act 32 of 1959 (to be hereinafter referred to as the Act) is valid. The High Court has come to the conclusion that it is not a valid notice. On 4th January 1923, the father of respondent No. 1 was granted a licence to supply electric energy within 'the area consisting of municipal limits of Dabhoi and the territories comprised within half mile radius from the municipal boundary lines by the Government of Baroda under the Baroda Electricity Act Samvat 1964 (Act 1 of 1964). The said Company was known as Dabhoi Electricity Company. Respondent No. 1 was at all material times the holder of this licence. The said licence conferred an option on the Government to purchase the undertaking in accordance with the terms of the licence. C....

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....6 of the Indian Electricity Act, 1910 and exercise of option vested in the Gujarat Electricity Board to purchase your undertaking.  (ii) The Dabhoi Electric Licenee 1923 granted by the Government of Baroda under the State Electricity Act, Samvat 1964. Dear Sir, In exercise of the powers conferred on the Gujarat Electricity Board by virtue of s. 71   of the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1948, read together with section 6 of the Indian Electricity Act, 1910, as amended by the Indian Electricity (Amendment) Act, 1959 (32 of 1959) this is to give you notice that the Gujarat Electricity Board has decided to exercise and shall exercise the option of purchasing your undertaking on 3-1-1963, the date on which the licens....

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....he exercising of that power and hence that power can be exercised only in that manner and in no other manner. See Nazir Ahmad v. King Emperor ,L.R. 63 I.A. 372. and Ballavdas Agarwala v. Shri S.C. ChakravartY [1960] 2 S.C.R. 739. Before the option to purchase the undertaking can be exercised, the State Electricity Board must call upon the licensec by means of a notice in writing within the period mentioned in s. 6 (1 ) to sell the undertaking to it on the expiration of the period for which licence was given. The impugned notice does not require the licensec to sell the undertaking. It merely notifies the respondent that the appellant Board has decided to exercise and shall exercise the option of purchasing the respondent's undertaking o....

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.... must exercise in that manner and in no other way. It must also be seen that the Parliament deliberately changed the form of the nonce to be given from what it was before Act 32 of 1959 was. enacted. It prescribed that the notice must specifically call upon the licensee to sell the undertaking. The mandate of the law is clear and it must be obeyed. We agree with Mr. M.C. Chagla learned Counsel for the licensee that the issuing of a notice strictly in accordance with the provisions of s. 6 ( 1 ) is a condition precedent to the exercise of the power conferred on the State Electricity Board to purchase the undertaking. That being so, we must hold that s. 6 (1 ) is mandatory and it must be strictly complied with. In this case we are not satisfi....