Allahabad High Court
Sajal Kumar And 2 Others vs Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ballia And 6 ... on 8 May, 2020
Equivalent citations: AIRONLINE 2020 ALL 900
Author: Siddhartha Varma
Bench: Siddhartha Varma
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD In Chamber Case :- MATTERS UNDER ARTICLE 227 No. - 9748 of 2019 Petitioner :- Sajal Kumar And 2 Others Respondent :- Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ballia And 6 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Abhishek Kumar Counsel for Respondent :- Girdhar Prasad Tripathi,Anand Kumar Pandey,Rajni Ojha,Ravindra Nath Chaubey Hon'ble Siddhartha Varma,J.
This writ petition has been filed against the order dated 23.7.2019 passed by the Chief Judicial Magistrate Ballia District - Ballia as an Appellate Court under the U.P. Municipalities Act, 1916 (hereinafter referred as 'the Act') saying that the Chief Judicial Magistrate had no jurisdiction to decide the case under the Act.
It is the contention of the learned counsel for the petitioners that as of now under Section 160 of the U.P. Municipalities Act, 1916, the power of Appeal lay with the District Magistrate of the District. Learned counsel for the petitioners submits that the Appeal though was filed by the petitioners themselves before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, the order would be rendered null and void as it was passed by an Authority which had no jurisdiction to pass the order. In this regard, the learned counsel for the petitioner relied upon 2003 (6) SCC 230 : Dwarka Prasad Agarwal (D) By Lrs. And Another vs. B.D. Agarwal and Others and submitted that a Court which passes an order without jurisdiction was a nullity.
Learned counsel for the respondents no. 2, 3, and 4 Sri G.P. Tripathi and the counsel appearing for the respondents no. 5, 6 and 7 Ms. Rajni Ojha could not dispute the fact that the Chief Judicial Magistrate no longer had the jurisdiction to decide an Appeal under Section 160 of the U.P. Municipalities Act, 1916. Learned counsel appearing for the private respondents relied upon 2007 (11) SCC 447 (Kusheshwar Pradad Singh vs. State of Bihar) and 1996 (4) SCC 127 (Union of India and Others vs. Major General Madan Lal Yadav) and submitted that when the petitioners themselves had filed the Appeal in a wrong Court then they cannot now come complaining to the High Court that the order was null and void because the same was passed by an authority which had no jurisdiction to decide the Appeal. Learned counsel submitted that one cannot take advantage of one's own wrong.
Having considered the arguments of the learned counsel for the parties, this Court is of the view that the order passed by the Chief Judicial Magistrate under Section 160 of the Act, was an order which was passed without jurisdiction and, therefore, it was a nullity. The order dated 23.7.2019 passed by the Appellate Court, therefore, is set aside.
The writ petition is allowed.
The matter shall now be taken up by the relevant authority under Section 160 of the Act and shall be decided within a period of two months from the date of production of a certified copy of this order.
Order Date :- 8.5.2020 PK