Jang Bahadur vs U.T.Chandigarh And Others on 17 November, 2008

      IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT
                     CHANDIGARH.


                                                     CWP NO. 15039/2008
                                               Date of Decision:17.11.2008.

Jang Bahadur
                                     ..........Petitioner.

            Versus

U.T.Chandigarh and others
                                  ..........Respondents.


CORAM:      HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE SATISH KUMAR MITTAL
            HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE JASWANT SINGH.

Present:    Mr. Vishal Garg,Advocate for the petitioner.
            Mr. Deepak Sibal,Advocate for the respondents.


JASWANT SINGH,J.

The petitioner, an elected Panch belonging to the scheduled

caste category, has filed the present writ petition under Article 226 of the

Constitution of India seeking a writ in the nature of mandamus directing the

respondents to appoint him as a Sarpanch of Village Mauli Jagran, U.T.

Chandigarh as the said vacant seat of Sarpanch is reserved for scheduled

caste category and he being the only eligible and available Panch.

Briefly, the facts are that the election of 9 Panches of the Gram

Sabha Mauli Jagran were held in November 2003. The office of Sarpanch,

vide notification dated 5.12.2003 (Annexure P/1) was reserved for

scheduled caste category. Om Parkash, elected Panch who belonged to

scheduled caste category was elected as Sarpanch by the members of the

Gram Panchayat. However, Om Parkash, Sarpanch and the other scheduled

caste Panch, namely, Rulda Ram were removed in the year 2007. The
CWP NO. 15039/2008 2

petitioner contested the bye-election held in the year 2006 for the post of

Panch against a general category seat vacated by one Kesar Singh, Panch

and was declared elected on 22.12.2006. Since the petitioner belonged to a

scheduled caste category,on his application, he was issued a scheduled caste

certificate dated 11.8.2008. Mr.Jagdeep Singh, Panch has been working as

an acting Sarpanch since 2004 (due to suspension and subsequent removal

of Om Parkash, Sarpanch), having been elected as such by majority of the

Panches. The petitioner on the strength of his scheduled caste certificate

dated 11.8.2008 represented to the authorities for appointing him as

Sarpanch as the office of Sarpanch is reserved for a scheduled caste

candidate and he being the sole eligible and available candidate. As no

action was taken on his representation, the petitioner has filed the instant

writ petition.

Respondents, upon notice, filed their reply and have averred

that as per the scheduled caste certificate dated 11.8.2008 (Annexure P/3)

issued by Tehsildar, Panchkula, the petitioner has been shown to be a

resident of H.No.210, Village Budunpur, Panchkula and therefore, he has

rendered himself ineligible even for the post of Panch, much less claiming

himself to be appointed as Sarpanch as he cannot be on the electoral rolls of

two places i.e. Panchkula and Mauli Jagran, U.T. Chandigarh, particularly

when these two places are in different States. It has been further averred

that Jagdeep Singh, Panch who was acting as Sarpanch since 2004 has been

suspended on 7.2.2008 on the ground that he is facing a criminal trial. It

has been further stated that general elections for the constitution of a new

Gram Panchayat are due to be held in December 2008 and as per Section 22

of the Punjab Panchayati Raj Act,1994 (as applicable to U.T. Chandigarh),
CWP NO. 15039/2008 3

it is not necessary to hold an election for the office of Panch/ Sarpanch if the

remainder term is less than six months before the next general elections. It

has been further averred that the process for holding general elections of

all the Gram Panchayats of U.T., Chandigarh including Mauli Jagran has

started and the petitioner would be at liberty to contest the election of

Sarpanch in the forthcoming general elections.

After hearing the learned counsel for the parties and perusing

the stand taken by the respondents in the written statement, we are of the

opinion that no mandamus can be issued for directing the respondents to

appoint the petitioner as Sarpanch, at this stage, as he shall be free to

contest for the office of Sarpanch in the ensuring general elections of the

Gram Panchayat.

In view of the above, we find no ground to interfere in the

matter in exercise of our writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the

Constitution of India.

Dismissed.

                                            (Jaswant Singh)
                                                Judge



17.11.2008.                              (Satish Kumar Mittal)
joshi                                            Judge
 CWP NO. 15039/2008   4