Judgment dated 13th September 2024
Cause title : KIMNEO HAOKIP HANGSHING VS KENN RAIKHAN & ORS
Case No: SLP (C) 20580 of 2023
A Bench of Supreme Court Judges Hon'ble Justice SUDHANSHU DHULIA and Hon'ble Justice AHSANUDDIN AMANULLAH dismissed the Special Leave petition filed against the order rejecting application under order VII Rule 11 in an election Petition filed by the Respondent containing a concise statement of material facts and particulars of corrupt practices which is alleged against the returned candidate. Cause of action has also been properly disclosed in the Election Petition. The issues involved in the Petition are triable issues, hence the appeal was dismissed.
Facts of the case are:
The appellant before the Supreme Court is a Member of Legislative
Assembly and was elected from the 46-Saikul Assembly Constituency in
the 12th General Elections to the Manipur Legislative Assembly,
which were held in 2022.
The respondent, who was also a contestant from the same seat, filed
an Election Petition before the High Court of Manipur
challenging the result of the election on the grounds that the
appellant has not disclosed her assets in her nomination papers and
that she had indulged in "corrupt practices" in the election. The
appellant filed an application under Order VII Rule 11 of the Code
of Civil Procedure, 1908 read with Section 86 of the Representation
of the People Act, 1951 for rejection of the petition, which was
dismissed. The application dismissed by the High Court on 05.07.2023
was under challenge before the Supreme Court.
Before the High Court, the appellant then moved an application under
Order VII Rule 11 for rejection of the petition on
the grounds that it does not disclose any cause of action as it does
not specify any corrupt practices alleged to have been committed by
the appellant, nor is there any averment regarding concealment of
her income/assets. Therefore, the Election Petition does not comply
with the requirements of Section 83 of RPA and ought to be dismissed
at the threshold.
The High Court vide the impugned order held that whether the
appellant had any income or not and whether he had given a
wrong declaration at the time of his nomination needs to be looked
into in trial for which evidence has to be led by the parties and
examined by the Court. The petition cannot be dismissed under Order
VII Rule 11 application. Consequently, the application under Order
VII Rule 11 filed by the appellant was dismissed. Aggrieved by the
said order the appellant filed Special Leave Petition before the
Hon'ble Supreme Court.
Summary of the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court is:
12. In view of the reasons stated above, we see no reason to
interfere with the finding of the High Court of Manipur that the
Election Petition discloses a cause of action and that there is
substantial compliance of the requirements provided under provisions
of RPA and thus the petition cannot be dismissed under Order VII
Rule 11 CPC.
13. The appeal is, therefore, dismissed."
Download Judgment dated 13th September 2024 in KIMNEO HAOKIP HANGSHING VS KENN RAIKHAN & ORS, SLP (C) 20580 of 2023.