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Ganesh Sukhdeo Gurule v. Tahsildar Sinnar & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2018 INSC 1179Decided 10 Dec 2018
Civil Appeal No. 11916 of 2018
Justice A.K. Sikri · Justice Ashok Bhushan · Justice S. Abdul Nazeer

Background

A no-confidence motion was moved against the appellant, a Gram Panchayat office-holder, at a special meeting on 14.09.2018. Of the Panchayat's nine members, only eight attended; six voted for the motion and two against, but one of the six members who voted in favour had not filed her caste certificate after election and was therefore disqualified from sitting or voting. The Additional Collector, Nasik approved the motion as validly passed, and the Bombay High Court dismissed the appellant's writ petition challenging that approval, leading to this appeal.

Decision Breakdown

The core legal question was how to calculate the required two-thirds majority under Section 35(3) of the Maharashtra Village Panchayats Act, 1959: out of the total members "entitled to sit and vote" (eight, after excluding the disqualified member) or out of members merely "present and voting" (seven). The Supreme Court held the statute's language required counting the full universe of members entitled to sit and vote, i.e. eight, two-thirds of which is 5.33; since votes cannot be cast in fractions, 5.33 must be rounded up to six votes needed, not rounded down to five. As only five valid votes were cast in favour (the sixth vote, from the disqualified member, could not count), the no-confidence motion had not achieved the required majority. The Court distinguished contrary rounding-off precedents (involving reservation-quota calculations) as inapplicable to a special-majority voting requirement, set aside the Additional Collector's order and the High Court's judgment, and allowed the appeal.

Lesson Learnt

When a law requires a "two-thirds majority," the base number of members used for that calculation,and whether a fractional result rounds up or down,can decide the outcome entirely; since votes cannot be fractional, any fractional two-thirds threshold is rounded up, not down, making it harder (not easier) to remove an elected office-holder by a bare numerical push.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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