TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2016 (9) TMI 1633
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....a direction to the authorities to prepare the electoral rolls of the Cantonment Board, Panchamarhi strictly in accordance with Rule 10(3) of the Cantonment Electoral Rules, 2007 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Rules'). The said Writ Petition was disposed of on 08.07.2010 with a direction to the Cantonment Board, Panchamarhi to prepare the electoral rolls strictly in accordance with Rule 10(3) for the years 2010-2011. The said judgment dated 08.07.2010 in Writ Petition No. 7169 of 2008 was confirmed by a Division Bench in Writ Appeal No. 798 of 2010 by a judgment dated 24.09.2010. Rejecting the submissions of the Cantonment Board, the Division Bench held as follows: In our opinion, the Appellants are under no obligation in view of Rule 10(3) of the Rules to allot house numbers in respect of structures which are unauthorized or illegal, substantial compliance of provisions of Rule 10(3) is required to be made and that can be done by marking the encroachments as unauthorized construction and mention them accordingly in the electoral roll for the purpose of compliance of Rule 10(3) of the Rules. 2. Review Petition No. 972 of 2012 was filed for modifica....
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....ote of encroachers. The Cantonment Board contended that Section 28 of the Act contemplates that a person who was not less than 18 years and who was residing in the Cantonment area for a period of not less than six months was entitled to vote. By a judgment dated 22.04.2015, a Single Judge of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh allowed Writ Petition No. 93 of 2015 and directed the Respondents therein to prepare a voters list as per Rule 10(3) of the Rules by removing the names of the encroachers and inhabitants of illegally constructed houses. Writ Appeal No. 204 of 2015 was filed by the Union of India and Ors. challenging the judgment dated 22.04.2015 in Writ Petition No. 93 of 2015. By an interim order dated 24.04.2015, a Division Bench of the High Court gave liberty to the Appellants therein to continue with the election programme on the basis of the published voters list, subject to the outcome of the appeal. Election to the Panchamarhi Cantonment was conducted on 17.05.2016 and the results were declared. 5. By a judgment dated 21.07.2015, a Division Bench of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh dismissed Writ Appeal Nos. 204 of 2015 filed by the Union of India and Ors. and Writ App....
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.... the submission that there was a violation of principles of natural justice as all interested parties were not heard. The High Court held that as the judgment under review was on interpretation of the Act and Rules there was no necessity of impleading candidates who contested in the elections. In any event, the High Court held that the election was directed to be conducted subject to the outcome of the appeal and as the appeal was allowed, the election that was conducted was non est. The above appeals are filed challenging the judgment dated 21.07.2015 in Writ Appeal No. 204 of 2015 and order dated 17.03.2016 in Review Petition No. 950 of 2015. 6. We have heard Mr. Vikas Singh, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the Cantonment Board, Ms. Kiran Suri, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the other Appellants, Mr. P.S. Patwalia, learned Additional Solicitor General appearing for Union of India and Mr. Harsh Parashar, Advocate for Respondent No. 1 in both the appeals. Mr. Vikas Singh submitted that Sections 27 and 28 of the Act provide for preparation of electoral rolls and qualifications of the electors respectively. According to him, the nature of residence of a person in the Ca....
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....ants and submitted that the judgment of the High Court is required to be set aside as the elections to the Cantonment Board were held and results declared. 8. Mr. Harsh Parashar, Advocate appearing for Respondent No. 1 submitted that one of the objects of the Cantonment Act is removal of encroachments. He supported the judgment of the High Court and submitted that Section 2 (zt) defines 'residence' which clearly shows that only lawful residents are entitled for inclusion in the voters list. He also submitted that the judgment of the High Court in Writ Petition No. 7169 of 2008 became final and the Cantonment Board prepared the voters list contrary to Rule 10(3) of the Rules and the directions issued by the High Court in the said judgment. As the elections to the Cantonment Board were conducted pursuant to an interim order which was made subject to the outcome of the Writ Appeal, no benefit can be claimed by the Appellants from such election. He also submitted that an encroacher on Cantonment land and an inhabitant of an illegal structure cannot claim any right to vote as the statute does not confer such a right. He referred to Rule 55 of the Rules to submit that an elect....
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....Government may by Rule prescribe. (2) Every person whose name appears in the final electoral roll shall, so long as the roll remains in force, be entitled to vote at an election to the Board, and no other person shall be so entitled. (3) When a cantonment has been divided into Wards, the electoral roll shall be divided into separate lists for each Ward. (4) If a new electoral roll is not published in any year on the date prescribed, the Central Government may direct that the old electoral roll shall continue in operation until the new roll is published. 28. Qualification of electors.-(1) Every person who, on such date as may be fixed by the Central Government in this behalf by notification in the Official Gazette hereinafter in this Section referred to as "the qualifying date", is not less than eighteen years of age and who has resided in the cantonment for a period of not less than six months immediately preceding the qualifying date shall, if not otherwise disqualified, be entitled to be enrolled as an elector. Explanation.-When any place is declared a cantonment for the ....
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....that he has not abandoned all intention of again occupying such house either by himself or his family; The other relevant definition is in Section 2 (zc) which is as follows: (zc) "inhabitant", in relation to a cantonment, or local area means any person ordinarily residing or carrying on business or owning or occupying immovable property therein, or declared as such by the Chief Executive Officer and in case of a dispute, as decided by the District Magistrate; A perusal of the definition of 'resident' would show that it covers only a person who maintains a house or a portion of the house which is at all times available for occupation by himself or for his family, even if he is residing elsewhere. The point to be considered is whether the house to be maintained by a person should be a house built after taking previous sanction of the Board. As per Section 2 (d), a building means a house. Section 234 of the Act provides that no person shall erect a building on any land in a Cantonment without the previous sanction of the Board. According to Section 247 illegal erection of a building is an offence, punishable with a fine which may extend to fifty th....
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....isions of the Act. There is no restriction in the width of the word 'inhabitant' and even persons staying in houses which are illegally constructed will fall within its purview. The fact that the word 'resided' and not 'inhabited' is employed in Section 28 for the purpose of eligibility of persons to become voters makes it clear that persons who were ordinarily residing and carrying on business for temporary periods in illegally constructed houses are not eligible to vote. All persons living in the Cantonment area are covered by the expression 'inhabitant' and their rights are dealt in the Act. For example, Section 70 provides for objections to be filed by an inhabitant to the preliminary proposals for imposition of a tax Under Section 66. Likewise, Section 157 of the Act contemplates safety measures in case of outbreak of epidemic diseases covering inhabitants. Likewise, Section 180 deals with free patients and Section 197 referring to supply of water mention that persons to be benefited would be inhabitants. 15. It is well settled principle of interpretation that different words will have different meanings, depending upon the context. Though th....
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....; 87. Accordingly, this writ application is disposed of holding as follows: (i) That the 'ordinarily resident' in a constituency as mentioned in the Representation of the People Act, 1950 shall mean a habitual resident of that place or a resident as a matter of fact in regular, normal or usual course. It means an usual and normal resident of that place. The residence must be permanent in character and not temporary or casual. It must be as above for a considerable time, he must have the intention to dwell permanently. He must have a settled abode at that place for a considerable length of time for which a reasonable man will accept him as the resident of that State. (ii) A person holding a declared office as provided by the Act of 1950 can file a declaration in Form 6 and such a declaration shall have to be accepted as correct and the burden does not lie on such a person to produce evidence 14 to the contrary; that burden lies on the authority who disputes it, regarding holding of declared office. (iii) Apart from inquiry regarding holdin....
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....n the language commonly used in the District in which Cantonment is located, an electoral roll in Form I. (2) The electoral roll shall be divided into separate parts for each Ward. (3) The names of electors in each part of the roll shall be arranged according to house numbers. Explanation.-For the purposes of this Sub-rule, any building or unit line used for the purpose of lodging troops shall be deemed to be a house. (4) The names of electors in each part of the electoral roll shall be numbered as far as practicable, consecutively with a separate series of numbers beginning with number one. 19. It is evident from a plain reading of Rule 10(3) that the names of electors shall be arranged according to house numbers. It is clear that persons who are living in illegally constructed houses which are not assigned any number will not be entitled for inclusion in the electoral roll to be prepared in accordance with Rule 10(3). Rule 10(3) is not in conflict with Section 28 of the Act. On the other hand, Ru....
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....that they are encroachers. In the review filed for modification, the Division Bench deleted the said direction of inclusion of encroachers in the voters list after mentioning that they are encroachers. There is no substance in the contention of the Cantonment Board that direction of the Division Bench after modification enables them to include encroachers in the voters list. The finding recorded by the Division Bench is that encroachers are not entitled for allotment of house numbers to illegal structures and such structures will be marked as unauthorized. The Cantonment Board has not been authorized to include the encroachers in the voters list. We are of the opinion that the clear directions in Writ Petition No. 7169 of 2008 would disentitle the persons living in illegally constructed houses from being included in the voters list. 23. Before parting with the case it is our duty to deal with the very disturbing fact of encroachments on defence land. During the course of hearing, it was brought to our notice that there were several encroachments and a large number of illegally constructed houses in the Cantonment area. We were also informed that there is a Public Interest Litiga....