IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH C.W.P. No.11847 of 2008 DATE OF DECISION: NOVEMBER 12, 2008 Jaswant Singh .....PETITIONER Versus State of Punjab and others ....RESPONDENTS CORAM: HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE SATISH KUMAR MITTAL HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE JASWANT SINGH --- Present: Mohd. Saleem, Advocate, for the petitioner. Mr.M.S. Sindhu, Addl.A.G.,Punjab, for respondents No.1 to 5. .. SATISH KUMAR MITTAL, J. (ORAL) In view of the direction issued vide order dated October 21, 2008, Shri V.K. Ohri, Deputy Commissioner, Sangrur is present in the court. He explained the position in which the record could not be produced on the last date of hearing. He has stated that due to miscommunication, the record could not be produced in this court and for that he tendered his apology to this court. The record has been produced today in the court. We have perused the record. In this case, the petitioner alleged that he contested the election of Gram Panchayat of Village Nangla as a candidate against the seat reserved for Scheduled Caste, whereas in the election result he was illegally declared defeated by treating him as a candidate against the seat meant for General Category. In support of his contention, the petitioner has placed on record the Scheduled Caste Certificate (Annexure P1) issued to him by Tehsildar, Lehra, according to which the petitioner belongs to Ramdasia Sikh caste, which, as per the Punjab Government notification, is a Scheduled Caste. The petitioner has also relied upon the check list of the nomination papers appears to have been prepared by the Returning Officer C.W.P. No.11847 of 2008 -2- in which from the petitioner an amount of Rs.50/- was accepted as a security for filing the nomination papers. On the basis of averments made by the petitioner in this petition, notice of motion was issued and thereafter the written statement has been filed on behalf of respondents No.1,3,4 and 5. In the written statement, a definite stand has been taken that the petitioner had contested the election of Panch of Gram Panchayat of Village Nangla as a General Category candidate and not as a Scheduled Caste candidate. It has also been stated that in the Village Gram Panchayat, three seats of Panches were reserved for Scheduled Castes category, out of which, one seat was reserved for Scheduled Caste (Woman), and against the said three seats, three candidates who secured more votes in that category, have been declared elected. The candidature of the petitioner was considered against the seat meant for General Category and since he had secured lesser votes, therefore, he was declared defeated. During the course of hearing on September 17, 2008, when the counsel for the petitioner insisted that actually the petitioner had filed his nomination papers against the seat reserved for Scheduled Caste category, we directed the respondents to produce the record. Today the record has been produced. We have perused the original nomination paper filled up by the petitioner. We find that the petitioner had filed his nomination paper as a General Category candidate because with the nomination paper he has not annexed the declaration in Form IV-A as required under sub-rule (2) of Rule 9 of the Punjab Panchayat Election Rules, 1994 (hereinafter referred to as `the Rules'). Not only the petitioner has failed to file such declaration, but he has also not filed a Scheduled Caste certificate with the nomination paper. These facts clearly indicate that the petitioner did not nominate himself as a candidate against the seat reserved for Scheduled Caste category. Counsel for the petitioner put much reliance on the fact that the petitioner had deposited an amount of Rs.50/- as a security at the time of filing his nomination paper. Though this fact has been disputed and it has been stated that the petitioner had deposited an amount of Rs.100/-, in spite of that, in our opinion, this fact is irrelevant because once a Scheduled Caste candidate files his nomination paper against the seat meant for General C.W.P. No.11847 of 2008 -3- Category or against the seat reserved for Scheduled Caste category, he is required to deposit only an amount of Rs.50/- because that concession has been given to the persons belonging to Scheduled Caste community, as provided in the Proviso to sub-rule (5) of Rule 9 of the Rules. Since as per Section 55 of the Punjab State Election Commission Act, 1994, there is no bar for a Scheduled Caste candidate to contest against the seat meant for General Category, therefore, though the petitioner belongs to Scheduled Caste, but since he had filed his nomination paper as a General Category candidate, therefore, he was rightly considered in the election as a General Category candidate and no irregularity was committed while declaring him defeated. In view of the above, there is no merit in the petition and the same is hereby dismissed. (SATISH KUMAR MITTAL) JUDGE November 12, 2008 ( JASWANT SINGH ) vkg JUDGE