TMI Blog2012 (2) TMI 703X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ne Central Council Act, 1970 (for short 'the Act'). Section 4 of the Act mandates that election under Clause (a) or Clause (b) of Sub-section (1) of Section 3 of the Act shall be conducted by the Central Government in accordance with the rules as may be made in this behalf. Where any dispute arises regarding any election to the Central Council, it shall be referred to the Central Government whose decision shall be final. Sub-section (1)(a) of Section 3 provides that the Central Council shall consist of such number of members, not exceeding five, as may be determined by the Central Government in accordance with the provisions of the First Schedule of the Act for each of the Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani systems of medicine, from each State, in which a State Register of the Indian Medicine is maintained, to be elected from amongst themselves, by the persons enrolled on that Register as registered practitioners of the respective systems. Section 3(1)(b) of the Act states that one member each of the Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani systems of medicine from each University were to be elected from amongst themselves by the members of the Faculty or Department of the respective system of m ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ested in continuing as such, took advantage of this provision and continued in office far beyond five years as nobody was duly elected to replace them. 4. The Petitioner is an Ayurvedic doctor and holds the degree of Ayurvedic Medicine, namely BAMS, has done his post graduation MD (Ayurvedic) degree subsequently. The Petitioner claims that he held and still holds various offices in different organizations dealing with Ayurveda system of medicine. He claims to be the General Secretary of the Medical Association of India and member of the Governing Body of All India Ayurvedic Congress Committee, New Delhi and Indian Association of Blood Bank, Delhi. His aim is to ensure proper functioning of the Central Council, which has not been properly constituted and for which elections have not been held for the last 20-25 years. The Petitioner, having failed to achieve any results at the hands of the Central Government or the Central Council, despite the fact that he was holding various offices directly connected with the functioning of the Central Council, filed a petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India, 1950 (hereafter, 'the Constitution') with the following prayers ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... following due process of law, but that too should be done in a timely manner and in no circumstances, shall such elections be delayed, so as to cause gross violation of mandatory provisions contained in Articles 243U of the Constitution. This buttresses their submission that timeliness in conduct of elections is mandatory. 6. Lastly, challenge has been raised to the following portion of Section 7 of the Act as unconstitutional, violative of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution: or until his successor shall have been duly elected or nominated, whichever is longer 7. First and foremost, we will deal with the contention of the provision being ultra vires of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India, raised on behalf of the Petitioner. Article 14 guarantees equality before law whereas Article 16 talks of equal opportunities in matters of public employment. This concept of equality has to be patently infringed by a provision before that provision or any part thereof, can be declared as unconstitutional. The mere fact that there is some inconvenience arising from the language of a provision and its due implementation, cannot be a ground for declaring a provision violat ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nal mandates, such as those relating to fundamental rights, is always on the person who challenges its vagaries. 10. Here, we may also notice that there are two rules, of most general application, in construing a written instrument which are pair material, applicable to statutes as well. First, if possible, the written instrument shall be interpreted in light of the above mechanism and secondly, such a meaning shall be given to it, as may carry out and effectuate, to the fullest extent, the intention of the parties or the framers of law. of course, such interpretation will be subject to the limitations of uniformity in the meaning given to such expressions etc. 11. It is also a settled and deeply rooted canon of constitutional jurisprudence, that in the process of constitutional adjudication, the courts ought not to pass decisions on questions of constitutionality unless such adjudication is unavoidable. In this sense, the courts have followed a policy of strict necessity in disposing of a constitutional issue. In dealing with the issues of constitutionality, the courts are slow to embark upon an unnecessary, wide or general enquiry and should confine their decision as far as ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed to above go to show that the term of office of the members of the Council is five years from the date of the election or nomination, as the case may be. Section 6(1), however, also provides that a nominated or elected member, after the expiry of the term, may continue until his successor has been duly elected or nominated, whichever is longer . The expression whichever is longer does suggest the continuation after the expiry of the term. Can it, however, be construed to mean that if the authorities fail to act as per Clauses (a) to (f) of Section 3, the member concerned can continue to remain in office till perpetuity? In our opinion that could not be the intention of the law-makers. Regulation 23 (supra) does give an indication of what we have said above. 8. A reasonable interpretation of the provisions of the Act and the Regulations would be that elections/nominations to the Council should normally be held/made once in five years. However, if for some valid reasons the elections cannot be held during the term of five years, the same should be held within a reasonable time thereafter and the continuance in office of the elected/nominated members should not go on for perp ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... regard to the three medicine systems i.e., Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha had been completed and the elected candidates duly notified. 16. It was also pointed out before us that the Central Government had not made its nomination in terms of Section 3(c) of the Act, under all the three systems of medicine. 17. We may notice that this petition has been rendered infructuous, though to a limited extent. Section 3 of the Act imposes a statutory obligation upon the Central Government to hold elections to the Central Council, in accordance with the statutory provisions, which we have discussed above. Furthermore, the Central Government is responsible for nominating such number of members not exceeding 30 per cent of the total members elected under Sections 3(1)(a) and 3(1)(b) of the Act to the Central Council. In other words, the Central Government has a major role to play in the constitution, establishment and carrying on of activities by the Central Council. This is an onerous and significant duty. We cannot understand any reason whatsoever for the Central Government not to perform its statutory duties, particularly when it concerns with the systems of medicine catering to a country o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... order or natural calamities, which could distract the authorities from holding elections to the Municipality and other reasons for delay, this Court noted that the former are exceptional circumstances and under no other circumstance would the Election Commission be justified in delaying the process of election after consulting the State Government and other authorities. This Court laid significant emphasis on the independence of the State Election Commission and expected all other authorities to fully cooperate, and in default, granted liberty to the State Election Commission to approach the High Court and/or the Supreme Court, as the case may be for relief/directions. However, no final or time-bound directions were issued, in the petition above-referred, because election to the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation in that case had already been held in the meanwhile. 20. Statutory or constitutional independence is a pre-requisite to the proper functioning of such statutory bodies. Their appropriate constitution, in accordance with the provisions of the statute is mandatory. All concerned, including the Central and State Governments have the onus to discharge their duties and functio ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... considered opinion, a period of three months would be more than sufficient for completing the election process in accordance with law. This time limit shall operate only and as and when the Central Government and the Central Council jointly and severely are not able to hold the fresh elections within the term of office of the previously elected members, i.e., five years from the date on which the members first assumed office. 24. The words of Section 7 of the Act are intended to operate in an extra-ordinary situation, as the normal course should be that the Central Government hold the elections within a period of five years from the date of notification of the elected candidates for the previous tenure. Even where recourse to this exceptional situation becomes necessary, even there, the concept of reasonable time would come into play, in a situation where no definite period has been prescribed by the Legislature itself. The courts can always supply such lacuna in the interpretation of provisions of a law so as to achieve the object of the Act particularly when such interpretation would be in consonance with the legislative object of the statute. Thus, in our considered opinion, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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