Dheeraj Meshram vs State Of Chhattisgarh & Others on 17 July, 2012
8. Though the controversy before the Division Bench
of the M.P. High Court in the matter of Smt. Prabha
Rani Vishwakarma (supra) was concerning the issue as
to whether the letter of resignation by the President
of the Council addressed to the Chief Municipal
Officer can be said to be a valid resignation tendered
to the Municipal Council, yet the ratio as to the
legal character of a Municipality and the CMO has been
discussed and the said distinction between the
Municipal Council as a body corporate and other
officers like the Chief Municipal Officer who is the
Chief Executive Officer of the Municipality and the
elected head i.e., President of the Council has been
clearly dealienated and relying on the said judgment
and on the basis of the provisions contained in
section 3(8), defining a "Council", Section 5
providing for constitution of Municipal Council and
Section 19 providing for composition of Municipal
Council, this Court has no hesitation in holding that
the word "Council" as occurring in Section 324 of the
Act cannot be construed to mean President of the
Council and therefore, the impugned order exercising
powers u/s 324 of the Act is without jurisdiction
being not available for taking action against the
President of the Council for withdrawing his financial
powers.