High Court Sets Aside Removal Of Jagraon Municipality President, Says 'Honest Exercise' Of Power Is Not 'Abuse Of Power' Even If Erroneous

Observing that "an honest exercise of power, though it may be erroneous, is not an abuse of power", the Punjab & Haryana High Court has set aside the order to remove the President of Punjab's Jagraon Municipal Corporation.

The president was removed on allegations of abuse of power by issuing appointment letters to selected contractual employees prior to the programme being fixed for distribution.

Justice Sudhir Singh and Justice Karamjit Singh noted, "it is not the case of the official respondents that the persons, whom the appointment letters were issued to, were not eligible or entitled to receive the same. Rather, it is the case of the official respondents that the same were to be distributed in a programme which was yet to be fixed. Thus, the question remains that at best, the petitioner had tried to take credit for issuing appointment letters to the selected contractual employees, at an earlier date."

"The act of the petitioner may be, a decision taken in a haste and under excitement to win the praise and fame in order to earn credit, but it cannot be said to be a abuse of power, especially when there is no allegation by the official respondents that the same was done dishonestly or for any extraneous consideration or by using the corrupt practices," added the bench.

The Court was hearing a plea of Jatinder Pal, seeking the quashing of the order whereby he was removed from the post of President, Municipal Council, Jagraon, District Ludhiana, for the alleged violation of Section 22 of the Punjab Municipal Act, 1911 (Act).

It was alleged in September 2023, that the appointment letters to the selected Safai Sewaks (Sweepers) and Sewermen were to be issued in the programme to be presided by a local MLA. However, it was informed that the MLA could not come due to her ill health and the letter for appointment was given by the petitioner and the Executive Officer of the Council.

Later, Pal received a show-cause notice intimating that there was a proposal to remove him from the post of President, of the Municipal Council, Jagraon under Section 22 of the Act.

The lead charge in the notice, against the petitioner was that he had got appointment letters issued forcefully by detaining the staff of the council beyond 5:00 p.m.

The petitioner appeared before the authorities and submitted that the allegations levelled against him were false and that he had not committed any dereliction of duties. However, the authorities did not find any substance in the stand of the petitioner and accordingly, passed the impugned order removing the petitioner from the post of President of the Council.

After hearing the submissions, the Court noted, "Whether the act of the petitioner in facilitating issuance of appointment letters to the selected contractual Safai Sewaks (Sweepers) and Sewermen, amounts to an abuse of power?"

Referring to Black's Law Dictionary (7th Edn., 1999), the Court noted that, "the term `abuse of power' has been defined in to mean “abuse” as “to depart from legal or reasonable use in dealing with (a person or thing)”, “to injure (a person) physically or mentally”, “to damage (a thing)”.

The bench noted that "abuse of power...will normally imply that abuse means 'misuse' i.e. using one's position by corrupt or illegal means or otherwise than those means. Abuse of power means, a willful abuse or intentional wrong. But, an honest exercise of power, though it may be erroneous, is not an abuse of power."

In light of the above, the bench said in the instant case, it is not the case of the official respondents that the persons, to whom the appointment letters were issued, were not eligible or entitled to receive the same.

"The question remains that at best, the petitioner had tried to take credit for issuing appointment letters to the selected contractual employees, at an earlier date. It is also not the case of the official respondents that the said appointment letters have ever been withdrawn by them, meaning thereby, that the employees, who were selected to be engaged on contractual basis, are working in the Municipal Council pursuant to the issuance of said appointment letters," it added.

The Court highlighted that "this single act may amount to misuse of power, but not an abuse of power. Still further, even if, the act is considered to be a misuse of power, the same does not have the gravity of causing any loss to the Municipal Council or the public exchequer, as it is an undisputed position that the Safai Sewaks and Sewermen had been duly selected and they were to join their service after issuance of the appointment letters."

It opined that the said act of the petitioner cannot be termed to be an abuse of power, so as to warrant his removal from the office.

Consequently, the Court set aside the impugned order.

Mr. M.L. Saggar, Senior Advocate, with Mr. Sunny Saggar, Advocate, and Ms. Armaan Saggar, Advocate, for the petitioner

Mr. Anurag Chopra, Addl. A.G., Punjab.

Mr. Dharam Vir Sharma, Senior Advocate, with Ms. Sunder Kumari, Advocate, for respondent No.4.

Title: Jatinder Pal v. State of Punjab and others

 Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (PH) 190

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