'Standing Committee' Stands Dissolved Along With Completion Of Term Of Municipal Corporation : Supreme Court

The Supreme Court observed that the Standing Committee of a Municipal Corporation in Maharashtra will be dissolved along with the completion of the term of the Corporation.

"The end of the tenure of Corporation has its consequential effect of the end of the term of the office of the Councillor; and when no person could be said to be holding the office of Councillor after end of the term of the Corporation, existence of any Standing Committee thereafter, is simply out of question", the bench of Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and JK Maheshwari observed.

In this case, the Chairperson of the Standing Committee of Pune Municipal Corporation filed a writ petition before the Bombay High Court seeking a declaration that irrespective of expiry of the term of the Corporation, the Standing Committee shall nevertheless continue to function and the order issued by the Government appointing an Administrator, does not forbid the Standing Committee from functioning in accordance with the provisions of the Maharashtra Municipal Corporations Act, 1949. As the said writ petition got dismissed, the 'chairperson' approached the Apex Court.

The issue raised in appeal was whether the Standing Committee could be said to be a continuing Committee even after the term of the Corporation has come to an end and thereby, the term of the office of its members, i.e., the Councillors has also ended?

Referring to relevant provisions in this regard, the court noted

(1) the duration of the Corporation itself is for a period of five years and no longer, as per the mandate of Article 243U(1) of the Constitution of India, duly reflected in Section 6 of the Act of 1949;

(2) the term of the office of Councillors has specifically been provided to be co-terminus with the duration of Corporation in Section 6A of the Act of 1949; and 

(3) the Standing Committee is to be consisting of "sixteen Councillors".

"When no person could be said to be holding the office of the Councillor after completion of the term in view of the mandate of Sections 6 and 6A of the Act of 1949, it follows as a necessary corollary that the Standing Committee stands dissolved along with the completion of the term of the Corporation.. The proviso to sub-section (3) of Section 20 of the Act of 1949 essentially comes in operation only in the eventuality when there are existing members of the Standing Committee in office when general elections are held and they are to retire on the election of a new Committee, i.e., at the first meeting of the Corporation after general elections. The proviso cannot be read to mean that notwithstanding the expiration of the duration of a Corporation and thereby, termination of the term of office of the Councillors, there could still be any Standing Committee in existence. It gets perforce iterated that the Standing Committee stands dissolved along with the completion of the term of the Corporation.", the bench observed while dismissing the appeal. 

Case details

Hemant Narayan Rasne vs Commissioner and Administrator of Pune Municipal Corporation | 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 895 | CA 7685/2022 | 19 October 2022 |  Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and JK Maheshwari 

Headnotes

Maharashtra Municipal Corporations Act, 1949 ; Sections 6,6A , 20(3) Proviso- Standing Committee stands dissolved along with the completion of the term of the Corporation -The proviso cannot be read to mean that notwithstanding the expiration of the duration of a Corporation and thereby, termination of the term of office of the Councillors, there could still be any Standing Committee in existence. (Para 13-15) 

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