In fact, recently, this issue has been decided by the Supreme Court. In the case of City Municipal Council Bhalki v. Gurappa, (2016) 2 SCC 200, the Supreme Court has held that as a municipal council is not a public officer, no notice is necessary under Section 80 CPC when a suit is filed against a municipality.
Therefore, it is not necessary for you to first give a notice under Section 80 of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC) before you file the suit against the municipality. You can directly file the suit against the municipality without such notice.
In the above judgment, the Supreme Court has not given detailed reasoning as to why such notice need not be given to the municipality; it has given only a brief reason. Let me try to explain it in more detail.
Section 80 CPC notice is necessary only when the suit is to be filed against a Government or a public officer in respect of any act purporting to be done by such public officer in his official capacity.
Now, Section 2(17) of CPC defines “public officer” as under:
“(17) “public officer” means a person falling under any of the following descriptions, namely:—
(a) every Judge;
(b) every member of an All-India Service;
(c) every commissioned or gazetted officer in the military, naval or air forces of the Union while serving under the Government;
(d) every officer of a Court of Justice whose duty it is, as such officer, to investigate or report on any matter of law or fact, or to make, authenticate or keep any document, or to take charge or dispose of any property, or to execute any judicial process, or to administer any oath, or to interpret, or to preserve order, in the Court, and every person especially authorised by a Court of Justice to perform any of such duties;
(e) every person who holds any office by virtue of which he is empowered to place or keep any person in confinement;
(f) every officer of the Government whose duty it is, as such officer, to prevent offences, to give information of offences, to bring offenders to justice, or to protect the public health, safety or convenience;
(g) every officer whose duty it is, as such officer, to take, receive, keep or expend any property on behalf of the Government, or to make any survey, assessment or contract on behalf of the Government, or to execute any revenue process, or to investigate, or to report on, any matter affecting the pecuniary interests of the Government, or to make, authenticate or keep any document relating to the pecuniary interests of the Government, or to prevent the infraction of any law for the protection of the pecuniary interests of the Government; and
(h) every officer in the service or pay of the Government, or remunerated by fees or commission for the performance of any public duty;”
Now, it is clear that the definition of “public officer” does not include a municipal committee or a municipal council or a municipal corporation.
Let us now see the definition of “Government” which word is used in Section 80 CPC. It is not defined in the CPC. However, it is defined in Section 3(23) of the General Clauses Act, 1897, as under:
“(23) “Government” or “the Government”, shall include both the Central Government and any State Government;”
It is thus quite clear that a municipality is not covered within the definition of the word “Government” also.
Therefore, since a municipality is not covered within the definition of either “Government” or “public officer”, which are mentioned in Section 80 CPC, no such notice under this section is necessary if a civil suit is to be filed against the municipality.
Dr. Ashok Dhamija is a New Delhi based Supreme Court Advocate and author of law books. Read more about him by clicking here. List of his Forum Replies. List of his other articles. List of his Quora Answers. List of his YouTube Videos.
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