Sarju Vs. the State - Court Judgment

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criminal - conviction - section 19(f) of arms act,1878 - punishment awarded to the applicant could not become ineffective by repeal of the act under which it was imposed. - cantonments act[c.a. no. 41/2006]. section 346 & cantonment fund (servants rules, 1937, rules 13, 14 & 15: [h.l. gokhale, ag. cj, p.v. hardas, naresh h. patil, r.m. borde & r.m. savant, jj] jurisdiction of school tribunal constituted under maharashtra employees of private schools (conditions of service) regulations act, (3 of 1978) held, school run by the cantonment board is a primary school and it is not a school recognised by any such board comparable to the divisional board or the state board. the school tribunal constituted under section 8 of the maharashtra act cannot entertain appeals filed under section 9 by the employees working in schools which are established and administered by the cantonment board. teacher employed in the school run by cantonment board being covered under rule 2 (f) of the cantonment fund servants rules, 1937 can file appeal under rules 13, 14 and 15 to authorities provided therein against any order imposing any penalties etc. [deolali cantonment board v usha devidas dongre, 1993 mah. lj 74; 1993 lab ic 1858 overruled]. -- maharashtra employees of private schools (conditions of service) regulations act, 1978 [act no. 3/1978]. sections 9 & 2(21): jurisdiction of school tribunal whether a school run by cantonment board is not a recognised school within the meaning of section 2(21)? - held, the act is enacted to regulate recruitments and conditions of employees in certain private schools and provisions of the act shall apply to all private schools in the state whether receiving any grant-in-aid from the state government or not. private school is defined in section 2(2) of the act as a recognised school established or administered by a management other than the government or a local authority. recognised means recognised by director, the divisional board or state board. thus as far as the first part of the definition of being recognised is concerned, it includes, as stated above, four directors, the divisional boards and four state boards. the second part of this definition which comes after the comma refers to any officer authorised by director or by any of such boards. the question to be examined is whether school run by the cantonment board could be said to be one run by any such boards. a private school has to be recognised by the state or the divisional board or by any officer authorised in that behalf. when this phrase namely: recognised by any officer authorised by the director or by any such boards, is included in the latter part of section 2(21), such boards will be of the level of the state board or the divisional board. the boards referred to in the definition of the word recognised means the boards which deal with education at levels other than that of the level at which primary schools are operating. thus for being recognised, the school has to be recognised by the board and therefore, it has to be operating at a higher level i.e., secondary level. section 2(21) of the act defines the term recognised. the last clause therein is by any of such boards. the term such is defined in oxford dictionary as of the kind or degree indicated or implied by the context. therefore, the term such board will have to mean a divisional board of or the level of divisional board or the state board. the divisional board holds the examination and issues certificates after 10th and 12th standard examinations. the state board advises the state government on policy matters, ensures uniform pattern of secondary and higher secondary education, lays down principles for determining syllabi, prescribes text books, etc. the cantonment board does not discharge any of such duties nor is there any other board or body under the cantonments act discharging any such duties. the duties of the cantonment board are laid down in section 62 and amongst others, clause (xiv) lays down the duties of establishing and maintaining or assisting primary schools only. the cantonment board is not required to enter into the area of secondary education. therefore, school run by the cantonment board is a primary school and it is not a school recognised by any such board comparable to the divisional board or the state board. that being the position, it is not possible to accept it to be a recognised school for being a private school under the act. for the reasons state above, the school tribunal constituted under section 8 of the act cannot entertain appeals filed under section 9 by the employees working in schools which are established and administered by the cantonment board. [deolali cantonment board v usha devidas dongre, 1993 mah.lj 74; 1993 lab ic 1858 overruled]. - another objection was raised in paragraph 4 of the application for revision that sanction under section 39 of the arms act, 54 of 1959 was not obtained before the institution of the case against the applicant and so the prosecution was bad for want of sanction.r.n. sharma, j.1. this is a revision against the order of the learned seasions judge, sitapur dismissing the appeal of sarju against his conviction under section 19 (f) of the indian arms act (act 11 of 1878) and sentence of rigorous imprisonment for 13 months.2. the only point argued before me in this case is that because the indian arms act, 11 of 1878' was repealed by the arms act, 54 of 1959, the whole proceedings under section 19(f) of the repealed act instituted on 2nd may, 1962 ending in the conviction of the applicant on 25th august, 1962 are void and cannot be cured by any provision of law. it has been contended that the provisions of section 19(f) were not saved by the saving section 46(2) of the arms act, 54 of 1959 or sections 6 and 24 of the general clauses act. another objection was raised in paragraph 4 of the application for revision that sanction under section 39 of the arms act, 54 of 1959 was not obtained before the institution of the case against the applicant and so the prosecution was bad for want of sanction. however, the learned counsel conceded before me that sanction for the prosecution had seen duly obtained and he did not press this ground.3. i have heard the learned counsel for the applicant at length but am unable to agree with his contention. an unlicensed country-made pistol was recovered from the possession of the applicant when he was arrested on 1st march, 1952. a challan was submitted by the police against him on 2nd may, 1962 and after trial, he was convicted on 25th august, 1962. as already stated the prosecution was under section 19(f) of the indian arms act, 11 of 1878. the new act called the arms act, 1959, received the assent of the president on 23rd december, 1959 and it was laid down in section 1(3) of this act that it would come into force on such date as the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, appoint. the contention of the learned counsel for the applicant is that because the act was not expressed to come into operation on a particular day, it should be deemed to have come into operation on the date it received the assent of the president i.e. on 23rd december, 1959, long before the prosecution of the applicant. this contention is not correct. sub-section (1) of section 5 of the general clauses act, 10 of 1897, lays down that where any central act is not expressed to come into operation on a particular day, then it shall come into operation on the day on which it receives the assent, in the case of an act of parliament, of the president. thus an act of parliament shall come into operation on the day on which it receives the assent only where it is not expressed to come into operation on a particular day. in the case of the arms act, 54 of 1959, it was definitely expressed to come into force on such date as the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, appoint. the 'particular day' for the purposes of this act was the date as the central government was to appoint. the legislature had delegated the power of appointing the date to the central government and so the date which might in future be appointed by the central government, was to be the 'particular day' on which the act was expressed to come into operation. sub-section (1) of sec tion 5 of the general clauses act does not contemplate that a particular day should necessarily be appointed by the legislature. the particular day can also be the day which the central government may be authorised to appoint. by a notification no. gsr 992 dated 13th july, 1962, the central government appointed 1st october, 1962 as the date on which the new arms act, 54 of 1959, was to come into force. for the purposes of sub-section (1) of section 5 of the general clauses act, 1897, this new act was sufficiently express-ed to come into operation on this date and it shall be deem-ed to have come into operation on 1st october 1962 and not on the date on which it received the assent of the president.4. then, the mere fact that the indian arms act of 1878 was subsequently repealed by the new arms act of 1959 does not take away the effect of the conviction of the applicant which had already been recorded on 25th august, 1962. section 6 of the general clauses act, 10 of 1897, lays down:'6. where this act, or any centra] act .,,.., repeals any enactment hitherto made or hereafter to be made, then, unless a 'different intention appears the repeal shall not- (a) ....... (b) ....... (c) affect any right, privilege, obligation or liability acquired, accrued or incurred under any enactment so repealed; or (d) affect any penally, forfeiture or punishment incurred in respect of any offence committed against any enactment so repeated: or (e) .......' the applicant had already incurred a penalty or punishment in respect of an offence punishable under section 19(f) of the indian arms act, 11 of 1878, before the new act came into force and the repeal of the old act could not affect such penalty or punishment. the conviction of the applicant was otherwise valid and it does not become void by reason of the repeal. the punishment awarded to the applicant could not become ineffective by the repeal of the act under which it was imposed. 5. i, therefore, find no force in this revision and it is accordingly dismissed. the applicant shall surrender to his bail and serve out the sentence.