Table of Contents
Know about the Case brief of Municipal Board of Agra v. Ashrafi Lal
INTRODUCTION
The case of Ashrafi Lal v. Municipal Board of Agra is one in which the legal maxim-“Injuria Sine Damnum” applies to it that means injury without damage.Things to know about Municipal Board of Agra v. Ashrafilal case brief
FACTS
A suit was preferred against the Municipal Board of Agra. He was a petitioner who claimed to serve on the Board from 1914 till 1916.
Two lists were made by the staff of the Board under statutory authority; one electoral roll and another being a list of candidates.
By 1919, he had been a bitter enemy to the town council and an upcoming election was anticipated.
He claimed that criticism by him as chief justice caused personal enmity towards him from members of the board.
Ashraf Lal was owner and occupier of a house at Agra and did not dispute his right to be on both sets.
Indeed he was on both, and three members of the Board acting as revising authority approved them on January 31, 1919.
CASE IS ABOUT
What these people did in their official capacity or wrongly intentionally while doing their work or for some member or officer other than himself out of revenge and malice either being a director or office-holder caused plaintiff’s name being so inserted upon this list and his description so contrived as represented it not being that of Plaintiff but someone else?
For example, although he has been named correctly on ye Candidates’ List ye wrong father, caste & business-all three have been placed opposite his name-were those respectively belonging to ye landlord but no one else lived in ye same house.
If what he said about himself is accurate, this is why they found him least desirable as a candidate.
On nomination day however, there appeared at the polling place a person purporting to be son’s father listed among candidates,
Between January 31 and March 8, the Nomination Officers who acted had to refuse his nomination because that person was not the candidate’s father.
Therefore the plaintiff filed this suit seeking for specific relief of correction of list as well as damages caused to him.
Later on in this suit, he added a claim that either list of candidates or electoral roll had been tampered with making up whole composition of Board as invalid.\
ISSUE
Are corporations answerable?
Injuria Sine Damnum
The maxim “Injuria Sine Damnum” is one that applies to this case which suggests that injury without any damage.Injury Sine Damnum- Case Brief In Municipal Board Of Agra V Ashrafi Lal.
It is a Latin phrase, and the word “Injuria” means “damage.”
Sine means without, and Damnum is a building or any other kind of physical loss, hence the phrase alludes to “hurt suffered without an actual loss.”
This is such case where if there has been some legal harm it is actionable per se.
He does not need to show the specific damages that he has suffered. This means that if A comes into B’s house without permission for example, it will be a breach of B’s legal rights.
For instance, in Ashby v. White [1], where the plaintiff was a registered voter at a parliamentary election and the defendant, an election returning officer, unlawfully refused to accept the plaintiff’s vote.
The defendant was held liable because he violated the plaintiff’s legal rights even when there were no monetary losses to him as a result of the respondent asking for his vote.
Another famous case is Bhim Singh v. State of J.& K[2] in which the petitioner was also a member of J.& K parliament assembly.
There he was arrested by police wrongly just before entering into assembly session.
Moreover, he wasn’t produced before magistrate within that stipulated period of time too.
Therefore, this person lost his legal right to attend meeting and thereby violated fundamental right guaranteed under article 21 of constitution as well.
He has also been directed to pay costs amounting Rs 50,000/-.
This rule applies in cases involving injuria sine damnum where loss is caused by infringement of legal right rather than physical injury hence only compensable damage claim due to loss suffered by aggrieved party; accordingly no actual harm or money is required to be proved by complainant regarding this aspect since some damage must have occurred somewhere and therefore it may be recommended for compensation.
This may also suffice with Rs.5 only but where there has been malicious or willful violation of legal right; then such number can be increased as happened in Bhim Singh case as per Judge V.R.Krishna Iyer
JUDGEMENT
In Ashby v. White principle of injuria sine damnum was upheld by this court hence the defendant should make restitution since he had infringed on plaintiff’s constitutional right enshrined in the constitution to vote.
The duty of a defendant is that even if no money was lost, or the candidate for whom plaintiff voted must have won the election, defendant has still caused them injury and must compensate.
“It maybe convenient to say in quite plain words,—though I think that what we have already said makes it abundantly clear,—that this ground on which it was sent back, namely that there should be a reconsideration of whether one name incorrectly inserted in its election list renders the Board wholly illegal and improperly constituted, is a ground that no court ought ever to have entertained and that the inferior court should refuse,”
In addition, he stated; “In case of a public corporation, it is necessary to show how it will function under statute.
Firstly, it is wrong to suggest that Board’s lawyer has ever said too many records.
There is no need for the municipality to hand over all documents that it has which concern the candidates’ list and electoral roll. The only requirement is that records about the entry of plaintiff’s name into candidates’ list, as well as any other related to this name at every stage of its development in those lists until now be displayed during the case hearing to check out if there have been any changes, insertions or deletions made on such entries after their initial registration and any letter from members of the Board to Executive Officer or his secretary.
The court shouldn’t be turned into a flood zone. The Administrative Officers would breach their duty if they seek to submerge the court with loads of superfluous papers.
This affidavit must state what was removed or destroyed.
A restriction provided by a fair rule, cannot be broken. If there is an official from among them who knows where that document was last placed and how it disappeared or got destroyed when it was still in his hands previously, he/she may explain why it went missing.
Finally, for purposes of this affidavit, it will be sworn on behalf of the Municipal Board by its Chairman or Executive Officer jointly as such officers are under duty to make all requisite inquiries from all persons employed in the Board in reference to documents sworn to in their respective affidavits and if there is any document on which they make inquiries then they did so.
Also, Read – https://lexpeeps.in/municipal-board-of-agra-v-ashrafi-lal-air-1921-all-202/
