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One Govind Hari was a monthly tenant of room No. 23 of a
chawl at Chandanwadi. After his death in 1961 the tenancy
devolved on his widow Anusuyabai, who took in a boarder.
The chawl belonged to the Municipal Corporation and
proceedings were taken to eject Anusuyabai and the boarder
under Chapter VI-A of the Municipal Corporation Act. These
proceedings were initiated by one of the officers to whom
the powers of the Commissioner were delegated by him under
s. 68 of the Act. After due enquiry the officer passed an
order evicting these persons. An appeal was filed under S.
105F of the Act before the Bombay City Civil Court. In that
appeal it was held that the delegation was not proper inas-
much as the judicial functions of the Commissioner under ss.
105B to 105E had been delegated to be exercised under the
Commissioner's control and subject to his revision. The
learned Judge pointed out that judicial or quasi-judicial
power could not ordinarily be delegated and, in any event,
it could not be delegated so that the control over the
decision was kept by the Commissioner. He, therefore, held
that the officer who had passed the order was not properly
invested with jurisdiction and the order was thus a nullity.
The Bombay Municipal Corporation Act is an Act of 1888 and
it has been amended frequently. Section 68 is one of the
original sections and it provides as follows :