TMI Blog1974 (1) TMI 111X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... bruary, 1971, which was the date fixed for scrutiny of the nomination papers, the appellant raised an objection against the nomination of the, respondent on the ground that he was disqualified under s. 9A of the Act. Section 9A provides inter alia that a person shall be disqualified if, and for so long as, there subsists a contract entered into by him in the course of his trade or business with the appropriate Government for the execution of any works undertaken by that Government. There is an explanation to this section which says that where a contract has been fully performed by the person by whom it has been entered into with the appropriate Government, the contract shall be deemed not to subsist by reason only of the fact that the Government has not performed its part of the contract either wholly or in part. The allegation of the appellant was that the respondent had entered into five contracts with the Government of Orissa for the execution of works undertaken by that Government and these contracts were still subsisting and the respondent was, therefore, disqualified from contesting the election under s. 9A. This objection raised on behalf of the appellant was overruled by th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and his case was, therefore, covered by the Explanation to S. 9A. The respondent also contended in the alternative that even if the stand taken by the Block Development Officer on behalf of the Gaisilet Panchayat Samiti was correct, namely, that the respondent had failed to carry out his obligations under these contracts and the Government of the Gaisilet Panchayat Samiti had, therefore, become entitled to recover the amount advanced to the respondent and for that purpose issued the requisitions for certificate of recovery on 8th January, 1967, the case of the respondent was outside s. 9A because in that event the contracts were discharged by breach prior to 8th January, 1967 and were no longer subsisting at the date of nomination. The High Court trying the election petition took the view that the contracts in question were not undertaken by the respondent in his individual capacity in course of his trade or business, but they were undertaken on behalf of the Gram Panchayat in terms of the schemes envisaged in the Second Five Year Plan as the respondent was the leader of the people and Naib Sarpanch of the Gram Panchayat, and the dis- qualification under s. 9A was, therefore, not a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... aid in the course of his speech in Sun Life Assurance Co. of Canada v. Jervis (1) I do not think that it would be a proper exercise of the authority which this House possesses to hear appeals if it occupies time in this case in deciding an academic question, the answer to which cannot affect the respondent ill any way', and added : -it is an essential quality of an appeal fit to be disposed of by this House that there should exist between the parties to a matter in actual controversy which the House undertakes to decide as a living issue . This statement must apply equally in case of exercise of appellate jurisdiction by this Court. It would be clearly futile and meaningless for the Court to decide an academic question, the answer to which would not affect the position of one party or the other. The Court would not engage in a fruitless exercise. It would refuse to decide a question, unless it has a bearing on some right or liability in controversy between the parties. If the decision of a question would be wholly ineffectual so far as the parties are concerned, it would be not only unnecessary and pointless but also inexpedient to decide it and the Court would properly declin ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... a corrupt practice is charged against the respondent in an election petition, the trial of the election petition must proceed to its logical end and it should be determined whether the corrupt practice was committed by the respondent or not., As pointed out by this Court in Sheodhan Singh v. Mohan Lal [1959] 3 S.C.R. 417 no one can be allowed to corrupt the course of an election and get away with it either by resigning his membership or because of the fortuitous circumstance of the assembly having been dissolved. The public are interested in seeing that those who had corrupted the course of an election are dealt with in accordance with law. The decision of the question whether corrupt practice was committed by the respondent or not would not, therefore, be academic and the Court would have to decide it, even if in the meantime the Legislature is dissolved. That was precisely the view taken by this Court in Sheodhan Singh v. Mohan Lal [1959] 3 S.C.R. 417. In that case the election of the respondent to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly was challenged by the appellant in an election petition on the ground that the respondent was guilty of corrupt practice during the election. T ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... not render, it infructuous. We fail to see how the ratio of this decision can have any application in the present case. Here there is no charge of any corrupt practice against the respondent. The only ground on which the election of the respondent is sought to be invalidated is that he was disqualified at the date of nomination under s. 9A. This disqualification does not involve any act corrupting the course of an election. It has no other consequence than that of making the particular election void. It does not entail any electoral disqualification for the future. There is, therefore, no analogy between the two situations and this decision cannot be called in aid by the appellant. The appellant, however, relied on the following observations in this decision and contended that these observations clearly lay down that an election petition does not become infructuous on the dissolution of the Legislature and the petitioner is entitled to have the decision of the Court upon it, notwithstanding the dissolution of the Legislature: The election petitions in this country are solely regulated by statutory provisions. Hence unless it is shown that some statutory provision directly ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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