IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA. CWP No. 1561 of 2007 Judgment reserved on : 21.9.2010 Date of decision : 5.10.2010 Santosh Kumar ………Petitioner Versus State of H.P. and ors. ………..Respondents. Coram The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Kurian Joseph, Chief Justice The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Kuldip Singh, Judge. For the petitioner : Mr. Sandeep Sharma, Advocate. For the respondents : Mr. J.K. Verma, Dy. A.G. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Justice Kuldip Singh, J The petitioner has prayed for quashing of order, dated 14.8.2007 passed by respondent No.3, Block Development Officer, Bhattiyat, with a direction to respondents to re-enter the name of the petitioner in the records of Gram Panchayat, Malunda. 2. The case of the petitioner is that he is permanent resident of village Matuni, Post Office Malunda, Pargana Chowari, Tehsil Bhattiyat, District Chamba, H.P. and his name has been registered in Gram Panchayat Malunda since the year 2000. He has a house and a shop in village Matuni and one house in village Badei. Both these villages fall under Gram Panchayat, Malunda. The factum of houses and shop belonging to the petitioner situate in aforesaid villages, is evident from revenue record annexed with the petition. The petitioner has one shop in Village Chowari. The petitioner is regularly paying energy charges consumed in the house situate at village Badei. 3. The further case of the petitioner is that prior to registration of the name of the petitioner in Pariwar Register of Gram Panchayat Malunda, his name was registered in Grih Sarvekshkan Register of Nagar Panchayat Chowari, but the same was struck off from that register on 28.7.2000. In the year 2000, the petitioner shifted his residence at Matuni and Badei within the jurisdiction of Gram Panchayat, Malunda. The petitioner remained elected Pradhan of Gram Panchayat, Malunda till 2.1.2006. 4. The respondent No.3 acting upon some false complaint filed by the people who want to settle political score with the petitioner, issued a letter, dated 11.7.2007 to the petitioner calling upon him to file reply to the said notice assigning reasons within 15 days from the date of receipt of said notice, specifically replying why his name should not be struck off from the Pariwar Register, Gram Panchayat, Malunda. The petitioner filed a detailed reply and made a request for withdrawal of the notice. The respondent No.3 without taking into consideration the reply and without assigning reasons ordered to strike off the name of the petitioner as well as his family members on 14.8.2007 from the Pariwar Register of Gram Panchayat, Malunda, which is illegal, unjust, against principles of natural justice and in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution of India. It has been alleged that as a result of political pressure, the name of petitioner as well as his family members has been struck off from the Pariwar Register, Gram Panchayat Malunda. It is only with a view to stop the petitioner from contesting the election from Gram Panchayat, Malunda on the false complaint from the rivals of the petitioner from the village, the name of the petitioner has been struck off wrongly from Pariwar Register. 5. The respondents No. 1 to 3 have filed the reply and have taken several preliminary objections. It has been submitted that after receiving the complaint, an inquiry was made by the Additional District Magistrate, Chamba and it was observed by the Additional District Magistrate, Chamba that the families, as mentioned in the complaint, had been entered in the Pariwar Register of Gram Panchayat, Malunda in violation of instructions and accordingly, directed respondent No.3 to take further action in the matter. In compliance to the directions of Additional District Magistrate, Chamba, respondent No.3 had issued show cause notice to 11 persons including the petitioner. Thereafter, respondent No.3 directed Gram Panchayat, Malunda to delete the name of the petitioner as the name of the petitioner was entered in the Pariwar Register of Gram Panchayat, Malunda without following procedure as laid down in Rule 21 (2) of the Himachal Pradesh Panchayati Raj (General) Rules, 1997 (for short, 1997 Rules). The Gram Sabha, Malunda vide its resolution No.3, dated 2.4.2006 and resolution No. 13, dated 7.1.2007 had resolved that the family of petitioner along with others be deleted from Pariwar Register, Gram Panchayat Malunda as they are not residing permanently in Sabha area. The petitioner, in response to show cause notice, could not substantiate as to why his name along with his family members should not be deleted from the Pariwar Register of Gram Panchayat, Malunda. The inquiry was made by the Addl. District Magistrate, Chamba conclusively proved that the petitioner was not residing in Sabha area of Gram Panchayat, Malunda. The name of the petitioner has been deleted after following due procedure. On merits, it has been admitted that name of the petitioner was registered in Gram Panchayat, Malunda, but it has been asserted that the procedure was not followed for entering the name of the petitioner in Pariwar Register. The petitioner has a house at village Badei, but he is not residing there. The respondents prayed for dismissal of the writ petition. The petitioner has filed rejoinder, in which, he has denied the stand of the respondents and reiterated his case as projected in the petition. 6. We have heard the learned counsel for the parties. The Rule 21 of 1997 Rules provides as under:- “21. Pariwar Register and registration of births, deaths and marriages- (1) After the Government have established a Sabha by a notification under sub-section (1) of Section 3, a Pariwar Register shall be prepared for every Gram Sabha in Form-19 appended to these rules. It shall contain the names and particulars of all persons, family-wise, residing in a village which forms part of the Sabha area. The register shall be prepared by the Panchayat Secretary and shall be verified by the Panchayat Inspector of the concerned Block. (2) At the close of each calendar year, the entries in the Pariwar Register, required to be prepared under sub-rule (1) shall be revised and all entries pertaining to births, deaths and marriages shall be made in the register which had taken place during the preceding year i.e. upto the 31st day of December. No other addition or alternation may be made without any authenticated evidence or certificate of the member of concerned constituency of the Gram Panchayat. In the event of division of the family, separation of family shall only be entered in the Pariwar Register on the recommendation of the Block Development Officer, given by him after due inquiry, and order thereon by Sub-Divisional Officer (Civil) concerned. It shall be the duty of the Panchayat Inspector to verify these entries after satisfying himself about the reasons recorded by the Panchayat Secretary. He shall also put his initials on the goshwara prepared by Panchayat Secretary on Form 19-A. (3) The register shall be revised and brought up-to-date under sub-rule (2) by 31st January of each year and public notice will be issued to the effect that- (a) the register has been revised and brought up-to-date under sub-rule (2); (b) the register as revised is available for public inspection for a period of fifteen days (excepting the public holidays) between 10 A.M. to 5 P.M. in the office of the Gram Panchayat; (c) If any person has to make any objection with regard to any entry or any omission in the register, he may make the objection to that effect to the Secretary of the Gram Panchayat without the said period of fifteen days. The notice shall be pasted in the office of the Gram Panchayat and other conspicuous places in a Gram Sabha area. (4) The revised entries made in the register under sub-rule (2) and the objections received under sub-rule (3), shall be taken into consideration and disposed off and verified by the Panchayat Inspector after having given an opportunity of being heard to the person (s) concerned. (5) The Secretary of the Gram Panchayat shall undertake registration of births and deaths in accordance with the provisions of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 and rules made thereunder. (6) The Secretary of the Gram Panchayat shall also undertake of marriages and shall maintain a register in Form-10. The head of the family, or in his absence, any other adult member thereof shall report about the marriage which had taken place in his family within 20 days of the marriage to the Secretary or Pradhan or Up-Pradhan of the Gram Panchayat concerned. Any person who fails, without, sufficient cause, to make a report under this rule shall be punishable by the Gram Panchayat within a fine which may extend to one rupee for every day of non-compliance subject to the maximum of fifty rupees. The concerned Gram Panchayat may from time to time fix the rate of marriage registration fee through a resolution passed by it to that effect. Signature of thumb impression of the couple shall also be taken in the Register.” 7. The respondents in their reply have admitted that names of the petitioner and his family members were included in the Pariwar Register, Gram Panchayat Malunda, but with a rider that procedure prescribed in sub- Rule 2 of Rule 21 was not followed at that time. The petitioner remained Pradhan, Gram Panchayat, Malunda till 2.1.2006. The petitioner has filed detailed reply to the show cause notice, but respondent No.3 has side-tracked the reply by observing in one line that the reply is without merit. In the impugned order, various points raised by the petitioner in reply to show cause have not been considered. The respondent No.3 in the impugned order has also observed that the petitioner has placed material regarding village Badei, whereas the name of the petitioner in the Pariwar Register has been recorded in village Matuni. The respondents have not denied that villages Matuni and Badei are under Gram Panchayat Malunda. The respondents have also not taken the stand that the petitioner along with his family is residing at a particular place outside the Sabha area of Gram Panchayat, Malunda. In the reply, the respondents have stated that inquiry conducted by the Addl. District Magistrate, Chamba, conclusively proved that the petitioner is not residing in Sabha area of Gram Panchayat Malunda. This indicates that respondent No.3 was influenced by the report of Addl. District Magistrate. It emerges from the impugned order that petitioner is resident of Sabha area of Gram Panchayat, Malunda and, therefore, impugned order, dated 14.8.2007 is not sustainable. 8. The Rule 34 of 1997 Rules provides that the Secretary of the Gram Panchayat under the supervision of the Pradhan shall be responsible for the custody and maintenance of various registers of Gram Sabha or Gram Panchayat including Pariwar Register on Form-19. Sub Rule 1 of Rule 21 provides that Pariwar Register shall be prepared by Panchayat Secretary and shall be verified by the Panchayat Inspector of the concerned Block. Sub Rule (2) of Rule 21 provides that in the event of division of the family, separation of family shall only be entered in Pariwar Register on the recommendation of Block Development Officer, given by him after due inquiry, and order thereon by Sub Divisional Officer (Civil) concerned. In other words, in a limited situation, the Block Development Officer can make recommendations, but the final order is to be passed by the Sub Divisional Officer (Civil). In the present case, it is not the case of the respondents that final order for removal of the name of petitioner from Pariwar Register, Gram Panchayat, Malunda was passed by Sub Divisional Officer (Civil). Therefore, on this ground also the impugned order, dated 14.8.2007 is not sustainable. 9. The Pariwar Register is a statutory document and is to be maintained in accordance with Rule 34. The entries in Pariwar Register are relevant for civil rights of the concerned person. The deletion of name from the Pariwar Register affects the rights of the concerned person and has civil consequences. It has already been held above that impugned order dated 14.8.2007 is not sustainable. Therefore, petitioner has right to incorporate his name in Pariwar Register, Gram Panchayat, Malunda. 10. In view of above discussion, the petition is allowed, order dated 14.8.2007, Annexure P-10 is quashed. In case, the name of petitioner has been deleted from Pariwar Register, Gram Panchayat Malunda pursuant to order, dated 14.8.2007, then the respondents are directed to restore the name of petitioner in Pariwar Register of Gram Panchayat, Malunda, Tehsil Bhattiyat, District Chamba, H.P., within four weeks from today. No costs. (Justice Kurian Joseph), Chief Justice. (Justice Kuldip Singh), Judge. October 5, 2010 (pankaj)