Allahabad HC Disqualifies Rampur MLA Md Abdullah Azam Khan From UP Assembly [Read Judgment]

In a major blow to Mohd. Abdullah Azam Khan, Samjwadi Party's MLA from Rampur, the Allahabad High Court disqualified him from the membership of the State Legislative Assembly for being less than 25 years of age as on the date of election. Article 173(b) of the Constitution of India prescribes that in the case of a seat in the Legislative Assembly, a candidate must not be less than twenty five years of age and in the case of a seat in the Legislative Council, not less than thirty years of age. Azam Khan is the son of Mohd. Azam Khan, who was MLA and the then Cabinet Minister (Urban Planning, Development and Local Bodies) in Government of Uttar Pradesh, during the year 2012 to 2017. Background The petition filed by one Nawab Kazim Ali Khan alleged that Azam had filed a fake affidavit, depicting that he was born in the year 1990, for the purpose of contesting assembly elections. It has been alleged that Azam was in fact born in the year 1993 and thus was not competent to stand in the 2017 assembly elections. The Petitioner had also raised this issue before the Returning Officer the Election before the elections however, his objection came to be rejected. The Petitioner submitted that Azam's Class X mark sheet issued by CBSE in 2007 clearly stated his date of birth to be 01.01.1993. He added that Azam had himself disclosed his date of birth as 01.01.1993 while obtaining passport in the year 2006 and in the year 2012. Moreover, Azam's mother had also filed a nomination form for group insurance scheme in the year 2001 in which she had mentioned Azam's age to be 8 years which also shows the birth year to be the year 1993. Denying the allegations, Azam contended that the Class X CBSE Marksheet certificate had incorrectly mentioned his date of birth as 01.01.1993 instead of 30.09.1990 and he came to know about it for the first time in the year 2015 while he was pursuing his studies of M.Tech. and was forwarding towards his carrier/job. Therefore, he took steps for correction of his date of birth as 30.09.1990 in place of wrongly mentioned date of birth 01.01.1993. However, date of birth has not yet been corrected. Azam also produced the fresh birth certificate issued to him by the Nagar Nigam, Lucknow along with the cancellation order of the old birth certificate, passed by the Nagar Palika Parishad, Rampur, to support his case. Findings While noting that the burden of proof to show that a candidate was disqualified as on the date of the nomination lay on the election petitioner in terms of Section 103 of the Indian Evidence Act, the court observed that the Petitioner had discharged the initial burden of proof with regard to the age of Azam Khan. The court took note of several instances where Azam and his parents had overtly disclosed his birth year to be 1993. In such circumstances, the court did not believe that a highly educated family will take years to realize that the date of birth of their son is wrongly recorded in his Class X mark sheet. It said, "The respondent and his parents are highly educated and socially and politically active…He has travelled to foreign countries several times on the basis of his passport obtained in the year 2006 and 2012 and visa in the year 2014 in which his date of birth was recorded as 01.01.1993 as disclosed by him. He obtained the passport by moving an application under his own signature in the year 2006 and thereafter in the year 2012 (Ex. P-1 – Paper No.A-49/1-4) in which he himself mentioned his date of birth as 01.01.1993. He obtained visa and travelled to foreign countries prior to and subsequent to the year 2015 and always mentioned his date of birth as 01.01.1993. His parents got registered his birth with the Registrar of Birth Nagar Palika Parishad, Rampur, mentioning his date of birth as 01.01.1993," Justice Surya Prakash Kesarwani noted. False Birth Certificate The court went on to hold that the fresh birth certificate and the order of cancellation of old certificate were false and fabricated. It observed that the entry made in the aforesaid birth register of Nagar Nigam, Lucknow was a clear case of manipulation Advocate Azam's birth entry had been inserted in very little space at the bottom of the page, showing it to have been made on 30.09.1990. The court also noted that Azam's entry did not bear signature or order of any authority of the Nagar Nigam, Lucknow, or a Sub-Divisional Magistrate. Thus, it was held that the entry in the aforesaid birth register in Azam's name was not made on 30.09.1990. The court also noted that Azam's father was the Cabinet Minister of the Department of Urban Development and Local Bodies and both Nagar Nigam, Lucknow as well as Nagar Palika Parishad, Rampur were under his ministry when the fresh certificate was issued and the order of cancellation of old birth certificate was passed. "It shall not be out of place to mention...

Allahabad HC Disqualifies Rampur MLA Md Abdullah Azam Khan From UP Assembly [Read Judgment]

Akshita Saxena

Court found that he had not attained the age of 25 years at the time of contesting elections.

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