TMI Blog2010 (12) TMI 1301X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ommitted in the recovery of such loan, certain complaints were filed against the second respondent and in the writ petition it is stated that as many as 34 complaints were registered against the second respondent till 28.6.2006. 5. It was also averred in the writ petition that nearly 300 farmers have committed suicide in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra as victims of such illegal money lending business and the torture perpetrated in the recovery of such money. A complaint has been made that the farmers do not get the benefit of various packages announced by the Government and the State machinery is ruthless against the farmers. The cause of action for filing the writ petition is the order of Collector in the District of Buldhana (hereinafter Collector ) directing not to register any crime against Mr. Gokulchand Sananda, the second respondent herein, without obtaining clearance from the District Anti Money Lending Committee and also without obtaining legal opinion of the District Government Pleader. It appears that the said order was passed by the Collector in view of the instructions given to him by the then Chief Minister of Maharashtra. It has been alleged in the petition that ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... that Mr. Padwal directed that no action should be taken as instructed by the Chief Minster and no offence should be registered. The text of the station diary dated 31.5.2006 is set out: Station Diary Police Station Khamgaon City, District Buldhana, dated 31.5.2006 Station Diary Entry No. Time Summary of the Entry Particulars of Entry 26 13.15 hrs. Phone from PS to Hon. CM At this time, Mr. Padwal, PS to Hon'ble Chief Minister, MS dialed and enquired about the information regarding offence registered against Sananda; we informed that offence is registered at 12.15 hrs. 27 13.25 hrs. Phone from PS to Hon. CM At this time, Mr. Padwal enquired about facts of the offence registered, sections applied; then we informed them about sections applied to the said registered offence, then he told that henceforth no action be taken as instructed by Hon'ble CM and further said that again no other offences be registered. Sd/- Police Inspector Kham ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... stigation, the Chief Minister called the Collector at Mumbai and gave the instructions quoted above and thereupon the Collector conveyed the message of the Chief Minister to the Superintendent of Police, Buldhana. However, the Collector took a stand that by doing so he has not committed any illegality. 13. In the affidavit of the Superintendent of Police, Buldhana before the High Court, he admits that there are five cases already registered against the family members of Sananda under the Bombay Money Lenders Act and he has given details of those cases in his affidavit. He also submitted that on 31.5.2006 an offence came to be registered at police station, Khamgaon (T) on the complaint made by Shri Rajesh Shankar Kawadkar under Sections 341, 366, 392 read with Section 34 IPC and under Section 32(b) and 33 of the Bombay Money Lenders Act. He also admits to have received instructions from the Collector by the Collector's order dated 5.6.2006 about the Collector's meeting with the then Chief Minister of the Maharashtra and also about the manner in which the police has to deal with the complaints against Dilip Kumar Sananda and his family members. He further averred in his af ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 2. District Superintendent of Police - Member 3. District Registrar, Cooperative Society - Member Secretary. 17. This Court, therefore, finds that the contention of the learned counsel for the first respondent is correct and so far as the said committee is concerned it is not a statutory body. 18. Since, the learned counsel for the first respondent was arguing on the propriety of directions given by the then Chief Minister of Maharashtra and also on the propriety of Chief Minister's Personal Secretary making telephone calls to the police station and giving instructions as to how complaints should be registered against the family of the second respondent, this Court thought that the then Chief Minister of Maharashtra, who was initially not a party to this proceeding, should be impleaded and be given a chance to make his representation before the Court. Therefore, this Court by an order dated 31st March 2010, gave notice to the then Chief Minister of State of Maharashtra, presently Union Minister, Department of Heavy Industries, Government of India and directed service of the entire paper book of Special Leave Petition on him in order to enable him to fi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... der to ensure prompt investigation in cognizable cases and to maintain law and order. 24. Law does not accord any special treatment to any person in respect of any complaint having been filed against him when it discloses the commission of any cognizable offence. In the context of this clear legal position which, as noted above, is a vital component of a Rule of Law, the direction of the then Chief Minister to give a special treatment to Shri Dilip Kumar Sananda, M.L.A and his family about registering of complaint filed against them is totally unwarranted in law. Mr. Vilasrao Deshmukh as the Chief Minister of State of Maharashtra is expected to know that the farmers of the State specially those in the Vidarbha region are going through a great deal of suffering and hardship in the hands of money lenders. 25. It is not in dispute that members of the family of Shri Dilip Kumar Sananda, a Member of Legislative Assembly, are engaged in money lending business and various complaints have been lodged against the members of such family. 26. From the affidavit filed by Shri Ambadas it is clear that 34 cases were filed against that family in respect of allegation of money lending. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ng a position of great responsibility as a high constitutional functionary, Mr. Vilasrao Deshmukh certainly acted beyond all legal norms by giving the impugned directions to the Collector to protect members of a particular family who are dealing in money lending business from the normal process of law. This amounts to bestowing special favour to some chosen few at the cost of the vast number of poor people who as farmers have taken loans and who have come to the authorities of law and order to register their complaints against torture and atrocities by the money lenders. The instructions of the Chief Minister will certainly impede their access to legal redress and bring about a failure of the due process. 32. The aforesaid action of the Chief Minister is completely contrary to and inconsistent with the constitutional promise of equality and also the preambular resolve of social and economic justice. As a Chief Minister of the State Mr. Deshmukh has taken a solemn of oath of allegiance to the Constitution but the directions which he gave are wholly unconstitutional and seek to subvert the constitutional norms of equality and social justice. 33. The argument that some of the ca ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... is deeply disturbed. We condemn the same in no uncertain terms. 39. We affirm the order of the High Court and direct that the instruction of the Chief Minister to the Collector dated 5.6.06 has no warrant in law and is unconstitutional and is quashed. We dismiss this appeal with costs of ₹ 10,00,000/- (Rupees Ten Lakhs) to be paid by the appellant in favour of the Maharashtra State Legal Services Authority. This fund shall be earmarked by the Authority to help the cases of poor farmers. Such costs should be paid within a period of six weeks from date. G.S. Singhvi, J. 1. I have gone through the judgment prepared by my esteemed brother Justice Asok Kumar Ganguly. I agree with him that the appeal deserves to be dismissed with costs but would like to separately record my views on the crucial issue of ministerial interference in the functioning of the authorities entrusted with the task of enforcing the laws enacted by the legislature. 2. The Constituent Assembly which comprised of eminent people drawn from different walks of life debated for more than two years, examined the constitutions of several countries and prepared the document, which was adopted as the C ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity so that the nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavour and achievement. What has been incorporated in the form of Part IV-A was implicit in the Preamble, Part III and Part-IV of the Constitution because fundamental rights of the citizens can become meaningful only if the State and citizens do their duty to bring about real equality amongst the people belonging to different segments of the Society. 5. Part IV-A of the Constitution was enacted with a fond hope that every citizen will honestly play his role in building of a homogeneous society in which every Indian will be able to live with dignity without having to bother about the basics like food, clothing, shelter, education, medical aid and the nation will constantly march forward and will take its place of pride in the comity of nations. However, what has happened in last few decades has given rise to serious apprehensions whether we will be able to achieve the objectives which were in the mind of the makers of the Constitution. The gap between 'haves' and 'haves not' of the society which existed even in pre- independent Ind ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Government of Andhra Pradesh under Chapter IVA of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 for nationalization of motor transport in certain areas of Kurnool District of Andhra Pradesh were challenged by filing writ petitions under Article 226 of the Constitution. The High Court repelled the challenge to the validity of the schemes and also negatived the argument that the same were vitiated due to mala fides of the then Chief Minister of the State. This Court allowed the appeals and quashed the scheme and declared that the schemes are invalid and cannot be enforced. While examining the issue of mala fide exercise of power, the Constitution Bench stuck a note of caution by observing that allegations of malafides and of improper motives on the part of those in power are frequently made and sometimes without any foundation and, therefore, it is the duty of the Court to scrutinize those allegations with care so as to avoid being in any manner influenced by them if they are not well founded. The Court then noted that the scheme was originally framed by the Corporation on the recommendations of Anantharamakrishnan Committee, but was modified at the asking of the Chief Minister so that his opponents ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he Chief Minister and the direction given to the Corporation that Kurnool was taken up for nationalisation next after Guntur. It is also to be noticed that if the direction by the Chief Minister, was a policy decision, the Corporation was under the law bound to give effect to (vide Section 34 of the Road Transport Corporation Act, 1950). We are not here concerned with the question whether a policy decision contemplated by Section 34 of the Road Transport Act could relate to a matter which under Section 68-C of the Act is left to the unfettered discretion and judgment of the Corporation, where that is the State undertaking, or again whether or not the policy decision has to be by a formal Government Order in writing for what is relevant is whether the materials placed before the Court establish that the Corporation gave effect to it as a direction which they were expected to and did obey. If the Chief Minister was impelled by motives of personal ill-will against the Road Transport Operators in the western part of Kurnool and he gave the direction to the Corporation to change the order of the districts as originally planned by them and instead take up Kurnool first in order to prejud ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... could direct extension of the term of the committee of management of Vaishali District Central Cooperative Bank, Hazipur (for short, `the Bank'). The Bank was created for the new district, which came into existence with the bifurcation of the existing district. In exercise of the power conferred upon him by Bye-law 29, the Registrar, Cooperative Societies, Bihar nominated a committee of management of 17 members including the appellant to be the first Board of Directors for a period of six months i.e., up to December 31, 1981 or till further orders, whichever was earlier. The committee of management was specifically directed to get the elections of the Board of Directors held in accordance with the law within six months. The appellant, who was a political person directly approached the then Chief Minister of the State and got the term of the first Board of Directors extended from time to time resulting in postponement of the election of the new board. On 29.10.1981, the then Chief Minister made an endorsement to the Minister (Cooperation) with a direction that the Registrar should extend the period of the committee of management for the time being. The Registrar complied with th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... upervisory jurisdiction of the State Government under Section 65-A of the Act. The Executive cannot, however, go against the provisions of the Constitution or of any law. Neither the Chief Minister nor the Minister for Co-operation or Industries had the power to arrogate to himself the statutory functions of the Registrar under Bye-Law 29. The act of the then Chief Minister in extending the term of the committee of management from time to time was not within his power. Such action was violative of the provisions of the Rules and the bye- laws framed thereunder. The Act as amended from time to time was enacted for the purpose of making the co-operative societies broad-based and democratizing the institution rather than to allow them to be monopolized by a few persons. The action of the Chief Minister meant the very negation of the beneficial measures contemplated by the Act. In Surendra Kumar v. State of Bihar (1984) 4 SCC 609, this Court referred to an earlier decision in Suman Gupta v. State of J. K. AIR 1983 SC 1235, wherein the Court had observed that there is nothing like unfettered discretion of the executive authority to nominate the candidate for admission to medical ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... substitute the observations made by the aforesaid observations as herein. This Court cannot be oblivious that there has been a steady decline of public standards or public morals and public morale. It is necessary to cleanse public life in this country along with or even before cleaning the physical atmosphere. The pollution in our values and standards in (sic is) an equally grave menace as the pollution of the environment. Where such situations cry out the courts should not and cannot remain mute and dumb. (emphasis supplied) In Secretary, J.D.A. v. Daulat Mal Jain (1997) 1 SCC 35, this Court had the occasion to examine allotment of lands to the respondents by the Minister and the committee headed by the Minister. Some of the observations made in that decision are quite relevant in the context of the present case. Therefore, they are quoted below: ... The Minister holds public office though he gets constitutional status and performs functions under constitution, law executive policy. The acts done and duties performed are public acts or duties as holding of the public office. Therefore, he owes certain accountability for the acts done or duties performed. In a democr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the reversal of a policy decision taken by him or his superiors that the time of the police officers would not be spent on enforcing the provisions of the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act, 1963. The Divisional Court of Queen's Bench dismissed the application. The Court of Appeal noted that the policy decision contained in communication dated April 22, 1966 was a confidential instruction issued to the senior officers of the metropolitan police whereby they were directed not to proceed against the clubs for breach of gaming laws unless there was complaint of cheating or they become haunts of criminals. As a result of the said instruction, the big gaming clubs in the metropolis were allowed to carry on their activities without any police interference. In his opinion, Lord Denning M.R. made the following observations: I hold it to be the duty of the Commissioner of Police, as it is of every chief constable, to enforce the law of the land. He must take steps so to post his men that crimes may be detected; and that honest citizens may go about their affairs in peace. He must decide whether or no suspected persons are to be prosecuted; and, if need be, bring the prosecution or se ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... uprisings, oppressions and vainglorious wars, and sometimes to experiments in the control of power, seeking to make it responsible, or more responsible, subject in some manner to the will of the people, of the majority or those who represented them. 9. The facts of this case, as noticed in the judgment prepared by brother Justice Ganguly, show that with a view to frustrate the complaint made by respondent No.1 who alleged that respondent No.2 - Gokulchand Sananda, his family members and some other money lenders were harassing him and other farmers and also to stall the action likely to be initiated by the concerned police authorities under the Bombay Money Lenders Act, 1946. Shri Dilip Kumar Sananda, a member of the Legislative Assembly approached the Chief Minister for a special treatment. In the first place, the Principal Secretary of the Chief Minister made enquiries from the police station about the cases registered against Sananda. Thereafter, the Chief Minister, without verifying the truthfulness or otherwise of the assertion of Shri Dilip Kumar Sananda that false complaints were being lodged against his family members, issued instructions that complaint against the conce ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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