IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) FRIDAY, THE TWELFTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE L.NARASIMHA REDDY WRIT PETITION No. 10079 of 2007 Between: R. Savitramma W/o. Venkatramaiah R/o. Vangapadu Village, Kangiri Mandal, Prakasam District. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The DIstrict Panchayat Officer, Prakasam District, Ongole. 2 The Divisional Panchayat Officer, Kandukur, Prakasam District. 3 Mandal Parishad Development Officer, Kanigiri Mandal, Kanigiri, Prakasam District. 4 The Tahsildar (Mandal Revenue Officer) Kanigiri Mandal, Kanigiri. 5 The Station HOuse Officer,Kanigiri Police Station, Kanigiri, Prakasam District. 6 The District Collector (Gram Panchayats) Prakasam District, Ongole. .....RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Aﬃdavit ﬁled herein the High Court will be pleased to issue a writ, order or direction more particularly one in the nature of a writ of Certiorari by calling the concerned records relating to the proceedings dt. 23-4-2007 in ROC No. 2400/05 (Pts) A1 issued by the 1st Respondent and quash the same as illegal, void and inoperative under law and pass such other order or orders as this Hon'ble Court may deem ﬁt and proper in the circumstances of the case. Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.D.RAMALINGA SWAMY Counsel for the Respondents: GP FOR PANCHAYAT RAJ & RURAL DEV. The Court made the following ORDER: The petitioner functioned as Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat, Vengapadu Village, Kanigiri Mandal, Prakasam District. The District Panchayat Oﬃcer, the ﬁrst respondent herein, issued proceedings, dated 23.04.2007, stating that the Divisional Panchayat Oﬃcer, Kanigiri, the second respondent herein, had submitted a report to the eﬀect that the petitioner did not account for a sum of Rs.2,48,803/- and accordingly, the ﬁrst respondent authorized the Tahsildar (Mandal Revenue Oﬃcer), Kanigiri, the fourth respondent herein, to recover the said amount from the petitioner. The ﬁrst respondent has also authorized the fourth respondent to ﬁle a complaint before the Station House Oﬃcer, Kanigiri. The petitioner challenges the said proceedings. Sri D.Ramalinga Swamy, the learned counsel for the petitioner, submits that the impugned proceedings cannot be sustained in law for more reasons than one. He contends that the proceedings are not preceded by any show cause notice and that the ﬁrst respondent is not conferred with the power to direct recovery under Section 265 of the Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 (for short ‘the Act’). The learned Government Pleader for Panchayat Raj, on the other hand, submits that the ﬁnding against the petitioner was recorded, after due enquiry by the second respondent and the ﬁrst respondent is competent to direct recovery. He further contends that the petitioner can raise an objection as and when the fourth respondent initiated steps against her. The short question that arises for consideration in this writ petition is as to whether the ﬁrst respondent is competent to issue the impugned proceedings. Section 265 of the Act empowers the Commissioner of Panchayat, to ﬁx the liability on a Sarpanch and to take steps to recover the amount. The word ‘Commissioner’ is defined under sub-section (2) of Section 2 of the Act. The District Panchayat Oﬃcer is not included in the said deﬁnition. There is nothing on record to disclose that the ﬁrst respondent has been authorized by the Government to exercise any powers or to discharge any of the functions of the Commissioner. On this short ground, the impugned proceedings are liable to be set aside. Another aspect is that the impugned proceedings are not preceded by any show cause notice. Therefore, the writ petition is allowed and the impugned proceedings are set aside. It is made clear that it shall be open to the competent authority to take necessary action either to ﬁx the liability against the petitioner or to recover the determined amount. There shall be no order as to costs. ___________________ L.NARASIMHA REDDY,J Dt: 12.09.2008. kdl