IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH C.W.P. No.12710 of 2008 DATE OF DECISION: SEPTEMBER 03, 2008 Brahm Dass .....PETITIONER Versus The State of Punjab and others ....RESPONDENTS CORAM: HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE SATISH KUMAR MITTAL HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE JASWANT SINGH --- Present: Mr.Swarn Sandhir, Advocate, for the petitioner. .. SATISH KUMAR MITTAL, J. The petitioner has filed this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for quashing the impugned letter dated 27.5.2008 (Annexure P-3) vide which the respondent authorities have clarified that in case the office of Sarpanch is reserved for Scheduled Caste, then a Panch elected against the General Category can be allowed to contest the election for the office of Sarpanch reserved for Scheduled Caste category by producing the certificate of Scheduled Caste before the Presiding Officer. It has been further prayed that the petitioner was the only eligible candidate who could have been elected as Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat of Village Nurpur Mand, Block Machhiwara, Tehsil Samrala, District Ludhiana, because he was elected as Panch against the seat reserved for C.W.P. No.12710 of 2008 -2- Scheduled Caste category. It is further the case of the petitioner that Smt.Gurwinder Kaur-respondent No.7, though belongs to Scheduled Caste community, was illegally elected because she contested the election and elected as Panch of the Gram Panchayat against the seat reserved for Scheduled Caste (Woman) category. After hearing the counsel for the petitioner, the contention raised by the learned counsel cannot be accepted as the aforesaid question has been answered by this court in CWP No.14927 of 2008 titled as “Parmjit Singh vs. State of Punjab and others”, decided on August 26, 2008, wherein it has been held as under:- “In our opinion, if the seat of Sarpanch of a village is reserved for Scheduled Caste, then both Men and Women belonging to Scheduled Castes category can contest the election for the said post because the eligibility is only “being a Scheduled Caste Panch” and not the nature of the constituency they represent as Panches. Further, if the seat of a Sarpanch of a village is reserved for Scheduled Caste (Women), then only women Panches belonging to Scheduled Caste can contest against the said seat because the eligibility is “being a Scheduled Caste as well as a Woman”. In our opinion, neither the provisions of Section 12 of the Act nor Rule 6 of the Rules in any way advance the contention raised by the counsel for the petitioner. Section 55 of the Punjab State Election Commission Act, 1994 provides that “For the avoidance of doubt, it is hereby declared that a member of the Scheduled Castes shall not be disqualified to hold a seat not reserved for members of those castes, if he is otherwise qualified to hold such seat under the Constitution of India and this Act.” These provisions have been made with regard to contesting of the election by the Scheduled Castes against the unreserved seat C.W.P. No.12710 of 2008 -3- meant for General Category. These provisions declare that a member of the Scheduled Castes shall not be deemed to be disqualified to contest the election against the unreserved seats if he is otherwise qualified to hold such post under the Constitution of India or under this Act. On the same analogy, a woman belonging to Scheduled Caste is fully eligible and qualified to hold the office of Sarpanch reserved for Scheduled Castes under the Act. She cannot be prohibited from contesting the election for the post of Sarpanch against the seat meant for Scheduled Castes category merely on the ground that she was elected as Panch from the reserved seat of Scheduled Castes Women. In our opinion, such prohibition would be violative of Article 15 of the Constitution of India which prohibits discrimination on the ground of sex. Article 15(3) provides that nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any special provision for women and children. Keeping in view the said mandate, under Section 12 of the Act, special provision has been made with regard to minimum 1/3rd total reserved seats of Scheduled Castes for the office of Sarpanch in the district for women belonging to Scheduled Castes. Therefore, the contention of the counsel for the petitioner that a member of the Scheduled Castes can only contest the election for the office of Sarpanch against the reserved seat for `women' belonging to Scheduled Castes and not the seat reserved for Scheduled Castes, cannot be accepted. Thus, in our opinion, respondent No.5, though was elected to the office of Panch against the reserved category of Scheduled Castes Women, was fully eligible to contest the election for the post of Sarpanch, which was reserved for Scheduled Castes category, being a `woman' belonging to Scheduled Caste.” In view of the aforesaid, we are of the opinion that respondent No.7, who belongs to Scheduled Caste community, was fully eligible to contest the election for the office of Sarpanch, which is reserved for C.W.P. No.12710 of 2008 -4- Scheduled Caste category, even though she was elected as Panch against the seat reserved for Scheduled Caste (Woman) category. Thus, we do not find any merit in this petition and the same is hereby dismissed. (SATISH KUMAR MITTAL) JUDGE September 03, 2008 ( JASWANT SINGH ) vkg JUDGE