IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH C.O.C.P. No. 13 of 2009 Date of Decision : July 03, 2009 Ranjit Kaur .....Petitioner Versus Parminder Singh and others .....Respondents CORAM : HON'BLE MR JUSTICE T.P.S. MANN Present : Mr. Gurcharan Dass, Advocate for the petitioner. Respondent No. 1 in person with Mr. V.K.Sandhir, Advocate Mr. M.C. Berry, Additional Advocate General, Punjab for respondent No. 5. T.P.S. MANN, J. This petition has been filed by the petitioner under Section 12 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 for summoning the respondents and awarding them punishment for intentionally disobeying the order passed by the High Court on 26.11.2008 in a writ petition earlier filed by her. According to the petitioner, she was elected as Panch on Scheduled Caste (Woman) seat of Gram Panchayat of village Gujjarwal. The post of Sarpanch of the said Gram Panchayat was reserved for Scheduled Caste woman and as the petitioner was the only SC woman, C.O.C.P. No. 13 of 2009 who had been declared elected as Panch and, thus, entitled to be elected as Sarpanch. When the respondents did not elected her as such, she filed a writ petition in this Court. The same was disposed of by a Division Bench of the High Court on November 26, 2008 with a direction to the Deputy Commissioner, Ludhiana and the Gram Panchayat, Gujjarwal to conduct the election for the office of Sarpanch of the Gram Panchayat as per reservation notified by the Deputy Commissioner in exercise of the powers conferred under Section 12 of the Punjab Panchayati Raj Act, 1994. The Election Tribunal was also directed to decide the petition filed by one Amarjit Kaur for challenging the election of the petitioner as a Panch, expeditiously. According to the petitioner, inspite of the directions issued by the High Court in her writ petition, she had not been administered oath of Sarpanch by the respondents. Even before the disposal of the writ petition, the Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development-cum- Additional District Election Officer), Ludhiana vide memo dated 19.11.2008 asked Sub Divisional Magistrate, Raikot to conduct the election of Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat, Village Gujjarwal in view of the instructions contained in letter dated 14.11.2008. Sub Divisional Magistrate, Rai Kot forwarded this letter in original to the Block Development and Panchayat Officer, Pakhowal, who in turn instructed Parminder Singh, Returning Officer-respondent No.1 to take further necessary action as per law. Though the petitioner approached the respondents a number of times for electing her as Sarpanch of the Gram -2- C.O.C.P. No. 13 of 2009 Panchayat yet no action was taken. She, accordingly, sent a contempt notice on 16.12.2008 through her counsel to the District Development and Panchayat Officer, Ludhiana and Parminder Singh, Returning Officer. Inspite of the same, the order dated 26.11.2008 passed by the High Court was not implemented as the petitioner was not administered the oath of office of Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat of village Gujjarwal. Respondent No.1 did issue a notice Annexure P6 to the petitioner that a special meeting of the Gram Panchayat would be held at Panchayat Ghar, Gujjarwal on 2.1.2009 at 2.00 P.M. for the election to the post of Sarpanch but on 1.1.2009, respondent No.1 postponed the election and, therefore, no such meeting of the Gram Panchayat was held on 2.1.2009. According to the petitioner, it is Parminder Singh-respondent No.1, Returning Officer, who was intentionally delaying the matter in connivance with Amarjit Kaur, who had lost the election and had challenged the election of the petitioner as Panch on SC (Woman) seat. When the petitioner, once again, approached respondent No.1, the latter told her that he would conduct the election of the Sarpanch on 9.1.2009. This conduct of respondent No.1, according to the petitioner, was indicative of the fact that he did not want to conduct the election of Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat of village Gujjarwal and, therefore, intentionally and wilfully disobeying the directions issued by the High Court on 26.11.2008. Upon hearing learned counsel for the petitioner, notice of motion was issued to respondents No.1 and 5. Pursuant thereto, both -3- C.O.C.P. No. 13 of 2009 the aforementioned respondents were duly represented before the Court. Respondent No.1 also filed his reply wherein he stated that the election for the post of Sarpanch has since been conducted within a period of one month from 26.12.2008 when the certified copy of order dated 26.11.2008 was received by him through registered cover from the registry of the High Court. He had discharged his duty in accordance with law and with full respect to the order passed by the High Court. It has further been explained in his reply that after receipt of the order dated 26.11.2008 passed by the High Court, the date for election was fixed for 2.1.2009, but due to bye-elections of Panchayats, he was once again put on election duty, therefore, the meeting of 2.1.2009 was postponed by serving a prior notice on 1.1.2009. The petitioner did not sign the notice for cancellation of meeting and the village Chowkidar made a report that after receiving the notice of cancellation of meeting the petitioner refused to sign the same. On 9.1.2009 this respondent fell seriously ill and was admitted in hospital also. He was able to resume his duties only on 16.1.2009. The election to the post of Sarpanch was then convened for 22.1.2009 after serving advance notice dated 20.1.2009. In the said election the petitioner was duly elected as Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat, Gujjarwal. Alongwith his reply, respondent No.1 appended discharge certificate Annexure R1/2 which indicated that he remained admitted in CHC, Sudhar from 9.1.2009 to 10.1.2009. The Court became suspicious about the authenticity of the said document as the petitioner -4- C.O.C.P. No. 13 of 2009 was shown to be suffering from loose motion, hyper-tension and fever for which he might not have required hospitalization. Accordingly, he was directed to produced OPD Card/Bed Head Ticket in respect of his stay in the hospital from 9.1.2009 to 10.1.2009. Photocopy of the admission record and OPD slip was, thereafter, produced before the Court on January 30, 2009. According to the petitioner, when he was discharged from the hospital on 10.1.2009 he was advised complete bed rest for five days. This Court was again not convinced about the said stand of respondent No.1 and a direction was, accordingly, issued to Executive Engineer, Punjab State Electricity Board, Sub Division, Sudhar to be present in person on the adjourned date of hearing alongwith attendance register of respondent No.1, especially regarding his being on leave from 9.1.2009 to 15.1.2009 as respondent No.1 stood posted as Junior Engineer with the Electricity Board. At the time of final hearing of the petition which took place on May 26, 2009, learned State counsel produced the attendance register in original which showed that respondent No.1 did not attend to his duties and had been on leave w.e.f. 9.1.2009 to 15.1.2009. Learned State counsel also produced the application in original submitted by respondent No.1 on 9.1.2009 vide which he applied for leave on account of being unwell and also the record regarding sanctioning of medical leave to respondent No.1 from 9.1.2009 to 15.1.2009. After perusing the original records, as mentioned above, their photocopies were retained on the file. -5- C.O.C.P. No. 13 of 2009 From the perusal of the aforementioned attendance register, application for the grant of leave and the order regarding granting of leave to respondent No.1 from 9.1.2009 to 15.1.2009, this Court is satisfied that the said respondent was not well on 9.1.2009 and for that reason he was not able to discharge the function of the Returning Officer so as to conduct the election for the post of Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat, Gujjarwal. After recovering fully from the ailments from which he was suffering, respondent No.1 was able to convene a meeting for 22.1.2009 for election to the post of Sarpanch and in that regard he issued advance notice on 20.1.2009. It is a fact that in the meeting dated 22.1.2009, the petitioner has been duly elected as the Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat, Gujjarwal and administered oath as such. In view of the fact that the petitioner has since been elected as Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat, Gujjarwal and duly administered oath as such and also the fact that no unnecessary delay has occurred on the part of the respondents, especially respondent No.1 in holding the meeting for conducting the election to the post of the Sarpanch, the contempt proceedings are dropped. The petition is, therefore, disposed of. ( T.P.S. MANN ) July 03, 2009 JUDGE satish Whether to be referred to the Reporters : YES / NO -6-