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TMI Blog2003 (8) TMI 477X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rity shall decide about the eligibility of the 38 persons by deciding whether the names of the concerned 38 persons were rightly included in the electoral rolls prepared by the respondents 1 to 12 for election of members to the Committee which was held on 6.10.1996. Parties shall be permitted to place all such materials on which they place reliance to justify their respective claims and stands. We make it clear we have not expressed any opinion on the said questions. The appeals are disposed of accordingly leaving the parties to bear their respective costs. X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the fact that by passage of time the dispute as regards the validity of the election in October 1996 became non est. Secondly, the High Court erroneously came to the conclusion that the 38 persons were legally inducted as members. Such conclusion was arrived at by proceeding on erroneous premises. The High Court committed a faux pas by holding that the application filed by the respondents 1 to 12 for adducing additional evidence was not dealt with by the Charity Commissioner thereby prejudicing case of the respondents. It was pointed out by the appellant that the application was not pressed by the applicants and it is not as if the Charity Commissioner had not dealt with the application in the proper perspective. Per contra, the learned c ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e law and it is made applicable at any stage. Lachmeshwar Prasad v. Keshwar Lal falls in this category. Courts of justice may, when the compelling equities of a case oblige them, shape reliefs - cannot deny rights - to make them justly relevant in the updated circumstances. Where the relief is discretionary, Courts may exercise this jurisdiction to avoid injustice. Likewise where the right to the remedy depends, under the statute itself, on the presence or absence of certain basic facts at the time the relief is to be ultimately granted, the Court, even in appeal, can take note of such supervening facts with fundamental impact. This Court's judgment in P. Venkateswarlu v. The Motor & General Traders read in its statutory setting, falls in t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ts can take notice of the subsequent events and can mould the relief accordingly. But there is a rider to these well established principles. This can be done only in exceptional circumstances, some of which have been highlighted above. This equitable principle cannot, however, stand on the way of the court adjudicating the rights already vested by a statute. This well settled position need not detain us, when the second point urged by the appellants is focused. There can be no quarrel with the proposition as noted by the High Court that a party cannot be made to suffer on account of an act of the Court. There is a well recognised maxim of equity, namely, actus curiae neminem gravabit which means an act of the Court shall prejudice no man. T ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... noted above, the application itself was not pressed. On this score alone, judgment of the High Court is indefensible. Several courses are open in view of the aforesaid finding. But we feel it would be appropriate, taking note of the passage of time and the nature of the dispute revolving around the question whether 38 persons were rightly included in the electoral rolls, if the matter is heard by the prescribed Appellate Authority. It is submitted by learned counsel for the parties that by the Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Act 1997, Karnataka Act No. 33 of 2001 (hereinafter referred as Endowments Act), the Bombay Public Trusts Act 1950 has been repealed. As the basic issue revolves around as noted supra on the qu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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