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TMI Blog1993 (4) TMI 332X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... dated 15-12-1992. The said letter of resignation dated 15-12-1992, although addressed to the Collector, was actually handed over to the Additional Collector, Amravati, by the petitioner at Achalpur Circuit House. However, on 16-12-1992, he addressed another letter to the Collector, Amravati, by which he withdrew his letter of resignation dated 15-12-1992. According to the petitioner, the said letter of withdrawal of resignation dated 16-12-1992 was received by the Additional Collector, Amravati, at 1:05 p.m. on the said date i.e. on 16-12-1992. The respondents dispute the fact that the letter of withdrawal of resignation dated 16-12-1992 was received by the Additional Collector, Amravati, at 1:05 p.m. on 16-12-1992. According to them, the said letter was received by him at about 3 p.m. i.e. after the letter dated the same i.e. 16-12-1992 was issued by him to the petitioner informing him that his resignation had become effective. 3. Feeling aggrieved by the above letter of the Additional Collector, Amravati, dated 16-12-1992, the petitioner has preferred the instant writ petition in this Court on or about 21-12-1992. On 21-12-1992 an interim order was passed by which it was dire ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the result of the instant writ petition. Moreover, it is possible that the ground which is raised in this writ petition about the withdrawal of the resignation by the petitioner may not be a ground upon which the election of the President can be challenged in the election petition. The above preliminary objection raised on behalf of the respondent No. 7 deserves to be and is rejected. 6. As regards the main contention urged on merits on behalf of the petitioner viz. that the Collector is persona designata under S. 53 of the Municipalities Act in the sense that his power cannot be exercised by any other officer or authority, the learned counsel for the respondents 2 and 6 have brought to our notice sub-sec. (3) of S. 13 of the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code, 1966 (for short the Code ) to show that the power conferred upon the Collector under the Code or any other law for the time being in force can be exercised by the Additional Collector also if there is a notification issued by the State Government in the official gazette in that behalf. It is brought to our notice that on 22-7-1986, in exercise of the powers conferred by the aforesaid sub-sec. (3) of S. 13 of the Code, the St ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... m, Annexure 'B' of the said circular dated 30-4-1992 gives the subjects to be dealt with by the Additional Collector but it does not contain any subject relating to Municipal administration. The submission on behalf of the petitioner on the basis of the above circular dated 30-4-1992 is that the said circular is a later circular and would therefore modify the aforesaid Government Resolution dated 22-7-1986 so far as the distribution of subjects is concerned and, therefore, as shown above, the subject of Municipal Administration can be dealt with by the Collector only who is thus alone competent to receive the resignation of the petitioner as President of the respondent Municipal Council. 9. It is, however, pointed out to us on behalf of the contesting respondents that the said distribution of subjects under the circular dated 30-4-1992 is not published in the official gazette as required by sub-section (3) of Section 13 of the Code, and hence it cannot prevail over the G. R. dated 22-7-86 which empowers the Additional Collectors to exercise all the powers and discharge all the functions of the Collector within their respective jurisdictions. The learned counsel appearing ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ict (including the City of Bombay) who would be in charge of the revenue administration thereof. In our view in the absence of any definition of the expression Collector in the Municipalities Act, the said expression used in the said Act has to be understood in the sense in which it is understood in the Code i.e. a person who is appointed as Collector by the State Government under Section 7(1) of the Code i.e. the highest revenue officer in the District in charge of the revenue administration thereof. 12. It is then pertinent to see that the Code enacts a general law relating to revenue administration of the State for which it creates a hierarchy of Revenue Officers as provided in Chapter II thereof. The said Chapter II of the Code also deals with the question of the powers to be exercised and the duties to be performed by them. A judicial notice can be taken of the fact that apart from the Code there are many other enactments which also confer powers and duties upon the Revenue Officers appointed under Chapter II of the Code, one such enactment being the Municipalities Act. This aspect is taken note of in Section 13 of the Code dealing with the powers and duties of the Revenu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d the construction sought to be placed by the contesting respondents upon Section 10 of the Code. It is urged by him that when the Collector is on Casual Leave, he cannot be said to have given up the charge of his post. It is also urged by him that any of the contingencies contemplated by Section 10 of the Code and in particular the contingency about the Collector being disabled from performing his duties relied upon on behalf of the contesting respondents, does not cover a case where the Collector proceeds on Casual Leave. 15. For proper appreciation of the rival submissions, Section 10 of the Code is reproduced below for ready reference:-- If a Collector or Tahsildar is disabled from performing his duties or for any reason vacates his office or leaves his jurisdiction or dies-- (a) the Additional Collector, and if there be no Additional Collector, the Assistant or Deputy Collector of the highest rank in the district, (b) the Additional Tahsildar, and if there be no Additional Tahsildar, the Naib-Tahsildar or the senior most Subordinate Revenue Officer in the taluka, shall unless other provision has been made by the State Government, succeed temporarily to the office ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e case where the Collector is not able to discharge his duties when he proceeds on casual leave. Looking to the object of enactment of Section 10 of the Code, we do no think that the word disabled should be so literally or narrowly construed. In our view, what it denotes is that the Collector is not able to perform his duties because of some or other reason which would prevent him from discharging the same. A similar view is taken by the Full Bench of the M. P. High Court in the case of Girja Shankar Shukla v. Sub-Divisional Officer, Harda, AIR1973MP104 . In fact, as we shall show hereinafter, the ratio of the said decision is squarely applicable to the instant case also. 19. It may be seen that the same contention viz. that the Collector is a persona designata under the relevant provisions of the Municipalities Act, and hence his powers cannot be exercised and his duties cannot be performed by any other officer was raised in the above case cited decided by the Full Bench of the M. P. High Court. The exact question which was raised in the said case was whether the duty imposed upon the Collector to preside over the meeting of the Municipal Council for election of Vice-Presiden ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ointed to the Collector. If the expression resumes charge of his district has to be construed in the context of the contingency of the Collector being disabled from performing his duties , the expression resumes charge of his district can only mean that after the disability in question which prevents him from performing his duties ceases, he is again able to perform his duties. 22. Thus, the expression resumes charge of his district used in Section 10 of the Code would only mean that the Collector assumes office and starts performing his duties. The above construction would also be in consonance with and further the object of Section 10 of the Code which is intended to cover all contingencies in which the Collector is not able to discharge the duties of his office. The above construction sought to be placed on behalf of the petitioner upon Section 10 of the Code cannot therefore, be accepted. 23. As regards the question as to what is meant by the expression Persona Designata , the learned counsel for the petitioner has brought to our notice the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Central Talkies Ltd. Kanpur v. Dwarka Prasad, 1961CriLJ740 . In para. 9 of the s ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ot be said that there is invalidity in the receipt of the letter of resignation handed over by the petitioner. 25. If the said letter of resignation has validly reached the Collector, then as per the said letter dated 15-12-92, it becomes effective from 16-12-1992 which means after the midnight of 15th. Although there is no definition of the word Day given in the Bombay General Clauses Act, 1904, the said word has to be understood according to English Calendar according to which the official business is transacted and according to which the words month and year are defined in the Bombay General Clauses Act, 1904. The word Day as per the English Calendar begins at midnight and covers a period of 24 hours thereafter. Since the day 16-12-92 begins from the midnight between 15th and 16th, the resignation of the petitioner would become effective after the midnight hour between 15th and 16th of December, 1992 because the petitioner wanted his resignation to be effective from 16th December 1992. The subsequent letter of withdrawal of resignation submitted by the petitioner on 16-12-1992 whether at 1:05 p.m. Or 3:00 p.m. would not be of any avail to the petitioner, because after ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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