STATE OF ORISSA versus SRIDHAR KUMAR MALIK AND ORS. ETC. ETC.

Citation: [1985] SUPP. 2 S.C.R. 349 · Decided: 31-07-1985 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: R.S. PATHAK · Disposal: Dismissed
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Judgment (excerpt)

• 
349 
STATE OF ORISSA 
v. 
SRiDHAR KllMAR MALIK AND ORS. ETC, ET(), 
JuLY 31, 1985 
[R.S, PATHAK AND AMARENDRA NATH SEN, JJ.] 
Orissa Municipal Act, 1950, Chapter XXX-A, Section 417-A.and 
Rule 602 of the 
Orissa Municipal Rules, 1953 -
Ftoclamation 
constituting notified ares published in English language both in 
the Official Gazette and the local newspaper - Validity of. 
Chapter XXX-A of the Orissa Municipal· Act, 1950 
also 
empowers the State Government to apply the provisions of the Act 
to areaa other than the towns, called "notified aress". ·Under· s. 
417-A in that ·Chapter, before the Government extends the opera-
tion of the Act to an ares under a llllnicipality it 11USt afford an 
opportunity to the local residents to object to the proposed 
action. 
The objections are submitted to the District Magistrate 
who forwards them along with his views to the State Government, 
for deciding as to what should be the precise area to which· the 
Act should be extended, and indeed whether all the provisi~ of 
the Act or only certain specified provisions should be so 
extended. 
In August 1972 the State Government _proclaimed their inten-
tion to issue a notification under sub-s.(1) of a.417-A of the 
Act in respect of certain aress in the District of Ganjlll'll and 
iovited objections from persons residing within the area. 
The 
proclamation was published in English in the Orissa Gazette as 
well as in a local Oriya newspaper, the "Daily Samaj"• PUrsuant 
to this proclamation no objection was received. On March 31, 1977 
the State Government issued a notification constituting with 
effect fl"9111 April 1, 1977, the 
area of Ganjain and Damodarpur 
villages as a notified area_ in terms of sulMh (1) of a. 417-A 
and making all the provisions of the Act applicable. 
The residents of the said two villages challenged 
the 
validity of the notification dated March 31, 1977 under Article 
226 of the Constitution on two grounds : (1) that the proclama-
tion conveying the intention of the Government to constitutue a 
notified ares was vagl1e in content and did not specify whether 
all the purposes of the Act or only some 
of them, 
and if so 
. A 
B 
c 
D 
E 
F 
G 
H 
350 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[1985] SUPP.2 s.c.R. 
A 
which, were to be the subject of administrative provision in 
relation to the area and thus they were deprived of a full and 
proper opportunity to express their views on the proposal of the 
Government and (2) that most of the residents did not know 
English and as the proclamation wss made in the English language, 
both in the Orissa Gazette · and in the local newspaper, the 
B 
publication served no purpose and wss contrary to the intent of 
the statute. Both the grounds found favour with the High Court 
and consequently the notification wss quashed. 
c 
D 
E 
F. 
G 
H 
Dismissing the appeal of the State, 
BEIJJ: '1. The declaration that the State Government intends 
to issue a notification under sub-s.(l) of s.417-A 
does not 
satisfy the statutory requirement because a notification under 
that sub-section may either be for all the purposes of the Act or 
for any of them. 
In the instant case, while it may be possible 
to say that the areas covered by the proposal are indicated with 
sufficient precision, it is not possible to hold that ali the 
purposes of the Act or only some of them were intended for 
administrative provision in the proposed area. Therefore, the 
· proclamation made under sub-s.(1-a) of the s.417-A wss ambiguous 
and incomplete and wss not the kind of notification which would 
ensure that the intention 
behind making it and calling for 
objections would be served. (354 F-ll] 
2. 
Sub-s.(l)(a) of the s.417-A of 
the Act requires that 
the proclamation should be published in the Official Gazette and 
also at least in one newspaper circulating in the area. In the 
instant case the proclamation was made in the English language 
in the Gazette as well as in the local newspaper. The Oriya 
Gazette is published in English, and that being so the intention 
of the legislature in sub-s.(l)(a) 1111St be construed to be that 
the proclamation in the gazette should be in the English 
language. So far as the proclamation in the newspaper was concer-
ned, Rule 602 of the Orissa Municipal Rules 1953 does not pres-
cribe the language in which the proclamation under sub-s.(l) of 
s.417-A of the Act has to be made. Having regard to the object 
with which a proclamation is required to be published under
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