power reserved by the Order of 1923 and was an effective defence to the
action, although it was retrospective in its operation and that this was no
exercise of judicial power. The direction to dismiss must be understood in the
light of an earlier provision in the same Order in Council which amended the
law on which the proceeding was founded the dismissal was thus the result of
the change in the law and all that the later clause showed was that the
change was to have retrospective effect and govern the rights of parties even
in pending proceedings. The decision would be helpful here only if and in so
far as the provision in Clause (4) had followed from a change in any rule of
law.
313. The decision in Piare Dusadh v. King Emperor, (1944) 6 FCR 61 =
(AIR 1944 FC 1) concerned the validation of a sentence imposed by a special
Criminal Court which was held to have no jurisdiction to try the case by an
order of a Court. By a validation Act the jurisdiction was conferred with
retrospective effect on the special Criminal Court and the sentence imposed
by it was made lawful. It was held that there was no exercise of any judicial
power by the legislating authority.
314. In Kanta Kathuria v. Manak Chand Surana. (1970) 2 SCR 835 =
(AIR 1970 SC 694), the appellant, a Government advocate stood for election
to the State Legislative Assembly of Rajasthan and was declared elected. The
election was challenged and the ground of challenge was that the appellant
held an office of profit within the meaning of Art. 191 of the Constitution. The
High Court set aside the election for that reason. While the appeal was
pending in this Court. Rajasthan Act 5 of 1969 was passed declaring among
others that the holder of the office of a Special Government Pleader was not
disqualified from being chosen or for being a member of the State Legislative
Assembly; and, by S. 2(2), the Act was made retrospective removing the
appellant's disqualification retrospectively. It was held that Act 5 of 1969 had
removed the disqualification retrospectively, that Parliament and the State
legislatures can legislate retrospectively subject to the provisions of the
Constitution, that no limitation on the powers of the legislature to make a
declaration validating an election could be put, and that by enacting the
impugned Act the disqualification if any which existed in the 1951 Act had
been removed.
315. In State of Orissa v. Bhupendra Kumar Bose 1962 Supp (2) SCR 380
= (AIR 1962 SC 945), the facts were as follows: Elections were held for the
Cuttack Municipality and 27 persons were declared elected as councillors.
One B who was defeated at the elections, filed a writ petition before the High
Court challenging the elections. The High Court held that the electoral rolls
had not been prepared in accordance with the provisions of the Orissa
Municipalities Act, 1950, as the age qualification had been published too late
thereby curtailing the period of claims and objections to the preliminary roll
to 2 days from 21 days as prescribed; consequently, the High Court set aside
the elections. The State took the view that the judgment affected not merely
the Cuttack Municipality but other municipalities also. Accordingly, the
Governor promulgated an ordinance validating the elections to the Cuttack
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