Holding

A mining lease does not fall within the ambit of Section 9‑A of the Representation of People Act, 1951, and therefore does not disqualify the holder from contesting an election.

Summary

In the 2000 Haryana Assembly election, Kartar Singh Bhadana was declared elected, but the runner‑up, Hari Singh Nalwa, filed a petition alleging that Bhadana held five mining leases and was therefore disqualified under Section 9‑A of the Representation of People Act, 1951. The Punjab and Haryana High Court held that a mining lease constituted a contract for execution of government work and set aside Bhadana's election. On appeal, the Supreme Court examined the scope of Section 9‑A, emphasizing that disqualification applies only when a person has a contract entered into in the course of his business with the appropriate government for the supply of goods or execution of works actually undertaken by that government. The Court found that mining leases do not amount to execution of works undertaken by the state, as the government’s duty under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 is to regulate, not to undertake mining. Consequently, Bhadana was not disqualified, the High Court judgment was set aside, and his election was upheld. The Court also awarded costs to the appellant.

Issues considered

Whether holding mining leases constitutes a contract for the execution of works undertaken by the appropriate government within the meaning of Section 9‑A of the Representation of People Act, 1951.
Whether the appellant is disqualified from contesting the election under Section 9‑A on the basis of such leases.

Legislation cited

Subjects

Election disqualificationSection 9-ARepresentation of People ActMining leaseGovernment contractInterpretation of 'works'Legislative intent

Judgment

A KARTAR SINGH BHADANA
v.
HARi SINGH NALWA AND ORS.

MARCH 27, 2001

B [S.P. BHARUCHA, N. SANTOSH HEGDE AND
Y.K. SABHARWAL, JJ.]

Representation of People Act, 1951-Section 9-A-Disqualification
under-Contract by appellant for execution of worlc undertaken by govem-
C ment-Not proved-Held, appellant not disqualified-Mines and Minerals
(Development and Regulation) Act, 1957-Section 18.

First respondent, who had secured second largest votes in an elec·
tion, filed an election petition before High Court challenging the election of
the petitioner who was declared elected, on the ground that the appellant
D was holding mining leases from the government at the time of scrutiny of
the nomination papers. High Court set aside the election of the appellant
and declared the respondent elected.

In appeal to"this Court, the appellant contended that he could not be
disqualified from· contesting the election, since the government had not
E undertaken mining operations and the appellant was not carrying out the
f
same for the government.

Allowing the appeal, the Court

HELD : 1. Section 9-A of the Representation of People Act, 1951
F does not operate to disqualify the lessee of a mining lease such as the
appellant. There is nothing in the clause in the leases, which can support
the submission that the appellant had entered into a contract for the
execution of any works undertaken by the Government. It is only when the
appropriate Government has undertaken works, such as the laying of a
G road, the erection of a building or the construction of a dam, and has
entered into a contract for the execution of such works that the contractor
is disqualified. [795-G-H)

2. In so far as is relevant to a case where it is alleged that a candidate
holds a contract for the execution of works undertaken by an appropriate
H Government, Section 9-A requires (a) that there should be a contract
790
KARTAR SINGH BHADANA v. HARi SINGH NALWA [BHARUCHA, J.] 791
entered into by the candidate; (b) that it should be entered into by him in A
. the course of his trade of business; (c) that it should be entered into with
the appropriate Government; (d) that it should subsist; (e) that it should
relate to works undertaken by that Government; and (I) that it should be
for the execution of such works. The provisions of Section 9-A disqualify a
citizen from contesting an election; a citizen may, therefore, be disqualified
B
only if the facts of his case squarely fall within the conditions prescribed by
Section 9-A. (794-C·D]

C. V.K. Rao v. Dentu Bhaskara Rao, (1964] 8 SCR 152; Dewan Jayna/
Abedin v. Abdul Wazed Alias Abdul Wazad Miah & Ors., (1988) Suppl. SCC
580; Ram Padarath Mahto v. Mishri Singh, (1961) 2 SCR 470; B. c
lAkshmikantha Rao v. D. Chinna Mallaiah, AIR (1979) AP 132 and Ranjeet
Singh v. Harmohinder Singh Pradhan, (1999) 4 SCC 517, referred to.

Black's Dictionary of Law, Fifth Edition, referred to.

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 6931 of 2000. D

From the Judgment and Order dated 10.11.2000 of the Punjab and
Haryana High Court .in E.P. No. 9 of 2000.

Ashok H. Desai, Amarendra Sharan, Irshad Ahmad, Ms. Madhu Sharan,
Anwar Khan and Shree Prakash Sinha for the Appellant. E
)
M.L. Verma, Prashant Kumar, Siddharth Bhatnagar, Prasenjit Keswani,
Joseph Pookkatt, Gaurav Aggarwal and G.K. Bansal for the Respondents.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
F
BHARUCHA, J. The appellant and the respondents were candidates
from the Smalkha constituency at the general election to the Haryana Assem-
bly held on 22nd February, 2000. The appellant secured the largest number
of votes, namely 37,174 and he was declared elected. The first respondent
secured 26,159 votes. The first respondent challenged the election of the
appellant by filing an election petition in the High Court of Punjab and
G
Haryana. He contended that at the time of scrutiny of the nomination papers
the appellant held from the appropriate Government, that of the State of
Haryana, five leases for the extraction of major and minor minerals ll!ld that,
therefore, he was disqualified from contesting the election. The High Court
upheld the contention holding that "a mining contract or a mining lease is H
+
792 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2001] 2 S.C.R.
A a contract to execute a Govenunent work on behalf of the Govenunent and
it is covered under Section 9-A of the Act", the Act being the Representation
of People Act, 1951 (hereinafter referred to as "the said Act"). The High
>
Court set aside the election of the appellant and declared the first respondent
,Jo:.
duly elected.

B The judgment and order of the High Court is under appeal by special
leave.

Section 9-A of the said Act reads thus :

"9-A. Disqualification for government contracts etc. - A person shall
c be disqualified if, and for so long as, there subsists a contract entered
into by him in the course of his trade or business with the appropriate
govenunent for the supply of goods to, or for the execution of any
works undertaken by, that govenunent."

The disqualification provision in the said Act has been amended twice.
D In the original Act it was provided by Section 7 that a person is disqualified
"if, whether by him~elf or by any person or body of persons in trust for
him or for his benefit or on his account, he has illY share or interest
in a contract for the supply of goods to, or for the execution of any works
or the performance of any services undertaken by, the appropriate govern-
E ment." This provision was amended in 1958 and it said that a person is
.,.
"(
disqualified "if there subsists a contract entered into the course of his trade
or business by him with the appropriate Govenunent for the supply of goods
to, or for the execution of any works undertaken by that govenunent." This
prov1s1on was amended in 1966 and Section 9-A as quoted above was
substituted.
F
Three judgmmts of this Court deal with disqualification. A Constitution
Bench considered disqualification in C. V.K. Rao v. Dentu Bhaskara .:f
Rao, [1964] 8 SCR 152 in the context of a mining lease. It was there
contended that a mining lease was tantamount to a contract for the
I
G supply of goods to the appropriate Govenunent and it was held that the
contention must fail.

In Dewan Jayna/ Abedin v. Abdul Wazed Alias Abdul Wazad Miah
& Ors., [1988] Supp. SCC 580, the question of disqualification was consid- JI,.
ered in the context of a contract to collect tolls at a Govenunent ferry
H run under the Ferries Act. This Court held that an analysis of Section 9-A
+

KARTAR SINGH BHADANA v. HAR! SINGH NALWA [BHARUCHA, J.] 793
showed that only in two cases would a person be disqualified if he had A
entered into a contract. with the appropriate Government in the course of his
trade or business, which subsisted on the date of scrutiny of nominations; they
were (1) when the contract was one for supply of goods to the appropriate
Government and (2) when it was one for the execution of works undertaken
by that Government. The question for determination, it was said, was whether
B
the contract to collect tolls at a Government ferry entered into in accordance
with the Ferries Act amounted to a contract for execution of any works
undertaken by the appropriate Government. The Court noted the observations
of Gajendragadkar, J. in the case of Ram Padarath Mahto v. Mishri Singh,
(1961] 2 SCR 470, thus :
c
"It may sound technical, but in dealing with a statutory provision
which imposes a disqualification on a citizen it would be unreason-
able to take merely a broad and general view and ignore the essential
points of distinction on the ground that they are technical."
D
The Court also took note of the judgment of the Andhra Pradesh High Court
in B. Lakshmikantha Rao v. D. Chinna Mallaiah, AIR (1979) AP 132, where
the question was whether a person who was carrying on business in arrack
and toddy under a contract with the Government under the provisions of the
Andhra Pradesh Excise Act, 1968 was disqualified for being chosen as a
member of the legislature. The High Court held that this contract did not E
. come within the mischief of Section 9-A of the said Act as it was neither
for the supply of goods to the Government nor for the execution of any works
undertaken by it. This Court approved the view taken in the Andhra Pradesh
decision and found that the position of the returned candidate before it .was
more or less similar to that of the returned candidate in the Andhra Pradesh F
case. It was noted that the word 'works' in the expression 'execution of any
works' in Section 9-A was used in the sense of projects, schemes, plants, such
as building works, irrigation works, defence works, etc. According to the
Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, the expression 'work' meant a structure
or apparatus of some kind; an architectural or engineering structure, a
building edifice. When it was used in the plural, that is, as 'works', it meant G
architectural or engineering operations, a fortified building, a defensive
structure, fortification or any of the several parts of such structures. This
Court, therefore, found it difficult to hold that when a person acquired the
right to collect tolls at a public ferry under the Ferries Act, he was perfonning
a contract for the execution of works undertaken by the Government. H
+

794 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2001) 2 S.C.R.
A This Court in Ranjeet Singh v. Harmohinder Singh Pradhan, [1999] 4
sec 517' was concerned with a case where the returned candidate had a
subsisting contrac:t, in partnership with others, for the sale of liquor with
the appropriate Government. This Court, relying upon Dewan Jayna!' s case,
held that the returned candidate had not incurred the disqualification. This
Court said that Section 9- A was a statutory provision which imposed
B
a disqualification on a citizen; it was, therefore, unreasonable to take a
general or broad view, ignoring the essentials of the section and the intention
of the legislature.

In so far as is relevant to a case where it is alleged that a candidate
c holds a contract for the execution of works undertaken by an appropriate
Government, Section 9-A requires (a) that there should be a contract entered
into by the candidate; (b) that it should be entered into by him in the course
of his trade or business; (c) that it should be entered into with the appropriate
Government; (d) that it should subsist; (e) that it should relate to works
undertaken by that Government; and (f) that it should be for
D the execution of such works. The provisions of Section 9-A disqualify a
citizen from contesting an election; a citizen may, therefore, be disqualified
only if the facts of his case squarely fall within the conditions prescribed by
Section 9-A.

E It is not in dispute that the appellant held mining leases from the
appropriate Government. What is in dispute is whether, by reason of the
mining leases, tl1e appellant was executing works undertaken by the Govern-
ment. The contention on behalf of the appellant is that the Government has
not undertaken mining operations and the appellant was not carrying out the
same for the Government.
F
Learned counsel for the first respondent drew our attention to the
meaning of the word "undertake" in Blacks Dictionary of Law, Fifth Edition.
It reads thus :

"UNDERTAKE - To take on oneself; to engage in; to enter upon; to
G take in hand; set about; attempt; as, to undertake a task or a journey;
and, specifically, to take upon oneself solemnly or expressly. To lay
oneself under obligation or to enter into stipulation; to perform or to
execute; to covenant; to contract. Hence, to guarantee; be surety for;
promise; to accept or take over as a charge; to accept responsibility
H for the care of. To engage to look after or attend to, as to undertake
KARTAR SINGH BHADANA v. HAR! SINGH NALWA [BHARUCHA, l] 795

~ a patient or guest. To endeavor to perform or try; to promise, engage, A
~- agree, or asswne an obligation ....

There can be no donbt about the correctness thereof.

Learned counsel for the first resppndent snbmitted that the appellant,
in doing mining work, was execnting works undertaken by the Government, B
., which it was the Government's obligation to perform. Becanse it was the
Government's obligation, this was works undertaken by the Government.
Reference was made by learned counsel, and by the High Conrt in the
jndgment under challenge, to Section 18 of the Mines and Mineral (Devel-
opment and Regulation) Act, 1957. Section 18 deals with mineral develop-
ment and says that it shall be the duty of the Central Government to take
c
all snch steps as may be necessary for the conservation and systematic
development of minerals in India and for the protection of environment by
1 preventing or controlling any pollution which may be cansed by prospecting
or mining operations and for such purposes the Central Government may, by
notification in the Official Gazette, make such rules as it thinks fit. The D
obligation under Section 18, such as it is, is that of the Central Government
and not that of the State of Haryana, the appropriate Government. Secondly,
the obligation of the Central Government under Section 18 is to take steps
for the systematic development of minerals in India and for such purpose to
..., make rules. There is no obligation cast upon the Central Government to E
exploit minerals; the obligation is to ensnre that such exploitation as takes
place is systematic.

Reference was made to the mining 'leases by learned counsel for the
first respondent. Thereunder, the appropriate Government has granted and
demised to a partnership firm of which the appellant is a partner, the right F
,. to win minerals from the areas therein mentioned. Clause 23 thereof, which
was relied upon, says that if the lessee does not carry out its obligations under
the covenants in the lease the lessor may cause the same to be carried out
and performed and the lessee shall pay the lessor all expenses in this behalf.
There is nothing in this clause in the leases which can support the submission G
made on behalf of the first respondent that the appellant had entered into a
contract for the execution of any works undertaken by the Government.
. As we see it, it is only when the appropriate Government has under-
taken works, such as the laying of a road, the erection of a building or the
construction of a darn, and has entered into a contract for the execution of H
796 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2001] 2 S.C.R.
A such works that the contractor is disqualified under Section 9-A. Section 9-
A does not operate to disqualify the lessee of a mining lease such as the
appellant.

Having regard to this conclusion, it is not necessary to deal with the
submission on behalf of the appellant that, in any event, the High Court
B could not have declared the first respondent duly elected.

The appeal is allowed. The judgment and order under appeal is set
aside. The first respondent shall pay to the appellant the cost of the appea:
quantified at Rs.25,000.

c K.K.T. Appeal allowed.