IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT
CHANDIGARH.
C.W.P. No. 13775 of 2008
DATE OF DECISION : 28.08.2008
Gurpreet Kaur and others
.... PETITIONERS
Versus
State of Punjab and others
..... RESPONDENTS
CORAM :- HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE SATISH KUMAR MITTAL
HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE JASWANT SINGH
Present: Mr. Veneet Sharma, Advocate, for the petitioners.
SATISH KUMAR MITTAL , J. ( Oral )
The petitioners, who are Panches of Gram Panchayat, Village
Fatehpur Rajputan, Block Jandiala Guru, Tehsil and District Amritsar, have
filed this petition under Articles 226/227 of the Constitution of India, for
issuing direction to respondents No.1 to 4 to notify the name of petitioner
No.1 as Sarpanch of the aforesaid Gram Panchayat, being in majority i.e.
having support of 5 Panches out of total 9 Panches.
It has been stated in the petition that initially, the meeting for
election of Sarpanch was held on 12.7.2008, but due to incomplete quorum,
the meeting was adjourned. Counsel for the petitioners submits that in the
second meeting held on 29.7.2008, respondent No.6 was declared elected as
Sarpanch of the aforesaid Gram Panchayat. It is the case of the petitioners
that the said meeting was totally contrary to the guidelines issued by this
Court in CWP No. 12694 of 2008, titled as Gurmeet Singh versus State of
Punjab and others, decided on July 23, 2008, and respondent No.6 was
illegally elected. It is the further case of the petitioners that they were not
CWP No. 13775 of 2008 -2-
allowed to attend the said meeting for election of Sarpanch of the aforesaid
Gram Panchayat.
After hearing counsel for the petitioners and going through the
contents of this petition, we are of the opinion that in this petition, the
disputed questions of facts have been raised, which cannot be gone into in
the writ jurisdiction of this Court. This Court in Baljit Singh v. State of
Punjab and others (CWP No. 13643 of 2008, decided on August 22, 2008),
has held that in view of Clause (b) of Article 243-O of the Constitution of
India and Section 74 of the Punjab State Election Commission Act, 1994
(hereinafter referred to as `the Act’), election of Sarpanch is to be challenged
by filing an election petition under section 76 on the grounds mentioned in
Section 89 of the Act. In the facts and circumstances of the case, no
exceptional case is made out to invoke the extra ordinary powers of this
Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for setting aside the
election of Sarpanch. Thus, we do not find any ground to entertain this
petition.
Dismissed.
However, it will be open for the petitioners to avail the remedy
of election petition under section 76 read with section 89 of the Act. If the
election petition is filed by the petitioners in accordance with law, the
Election Tribunal is directed to decide the same expeditiously.
( SATISH KUMAR MITTAL )
JUDGE
August 28, 2008 ( JASWANT SINGH )
ndj JUDGE