Rup Chand And Another vs Kanwal Singh And Another on 21 December, 2009

Civil Revision No. 484 of 2007                     1


       IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA
                    AT CHANDIGARH


                         Civil Revision No. 484 of 2007
                         Date of decision: 21st December, 2009


Rup Chand and another
                                                   .......Petitioners

                         Versus


Kanwal Singh and another
                                                   ........Respondents


Before:      HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE SABINA


Present: Mr. Kulvir Narwal, Advocate
         for the petitioners.

             Mr. Sanjay Mittal, Advocate
             for the respondents.


Sabina, J.

Election for the post of Sarpanch, Gram Panchayat

Lakria, was held on 23.03.2005. Four persons including the

petitioners filed nomination papers. Last date for withdrawal of

nomination was 22.03.2005. Petitioners withdrew their

nominations on 22.03.2005. Petitioners affixed their

signatures/thumb impressions in the relevant register,

maintained by the returning officer. Consequently, respondent

no.1 was declared Sarpanch of Village Lakria as elected

unopposed. Aggrieved by the same, petitioners filed the suit,

challenging the election of the respondent. Vide impugned
Civil Revision No. 484 of 2007 2

judgment, the suit of the petitioners was dismissed. Hence, the

present revision petition.

After hearing the learned counsel for the parties, I am

of the opinion that the instant petition is devoid of any merit and

deserves dismissal.

The petitioners had challenged the factum of

declaration of the respondent having been declared elected as

unopposed Sarpanch of Village Lakria on the ground that they

had been kidnapped by the respondent and were forced to

withdraw their nomination papers. FIR NO.34, dated

22.03.2005, under Sections 365/342/34 of the Indian Penal

Code, was registered at Police Station Beri (hereinafter referred

to as the “FIR”). The respondent had confessed his guilt in the

Gram Sabha. However, the petitioners failed to lead any cogent

evidence in support of their pleas and thus, failed to prove their

case. FIR was registered on the basis of written application made

by the petitioner Rup Chand. Hence, the plea taken by the

petitioners that the name of the respondent had been

deliberately excluded by the police in the FIR, was rightly

discarded by the learned trial Court. It has been noticed by the

trial Judge in the judgment that in the application Ex:R-1 before

the police, the time of occurrence was stated as 4:30 p.m. and

the petitioner while appearing in the witness box had stated that

he had withdrawn his nomination on 22.03.2005 at 12:30 p.m.

Hence, the learned trial Judge rightly held that in case the

nomination paper had already been withdrawn by the petitioner,
Civil Revision No. 484 of 2007 3

then there was no occasion for the respondent to get the

petitioners kidnapped at 4:30 p.m. The petitioners had

themselves withdrawn their nomination papers and consequently,

respondent no.1 was declared as elected Sarpanch unopposed. In

this situation, the learned trial Court had rightly dismissed the

suit filed by the petitioners.

No ground for interference is made out.

Dismissed.

[SABINA]
Judge
21st December, 2009
Shivani Kaushik