IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD MONDAY, THE NINETH DAY OF FEBRUARY TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE SMT JUSTICE T.MEENA KUMARI & THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT APPEAL NO : 78 of 2009 (Writ Appeal under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent against the Order dated 26/11/2008 in WP NO : 25788 OF 2008 on the file of the High Court.) Between: Karnati Jyothi @ Alampally Jyothi, W/o.Karnati Srinivasulu Vinjamuru Gram Panchayat, Chinthapally Mandal, Nalgonda District. ..... APPELLANT AND 1 Chanda Saroja W/o.Narasimha R/o.Vinjamuru Village, Chinthapally Mandal, Nalgonda District. 2 Vinjamuri Surekha W/o.Krishna Murthy R/o.Vinjamuru Village, Chinthapally Mandal, Nalgonda District. 3 The Election Officer, Stage-1, Superintendent, Mandal Development Office, Chinthapall Village and Mandal, Nalgonda District. 4 The Election Officer, Stage-II, Mandal Resource Person, Chinthapally Village and Mandal, Nalgonda District. 5 The Assistant District Election Authority, Mandal Parishad Development Officer, Chinthapally Village and Mandal, Nalgonda District. 6 The District Election Authority/ The District Collector, Nalgonda, Nalgonda District. .....RESPONDENTS Counsel for the Appellant: SRI K.MURALIDHAR REDDY Counsel for the Respondents.: GP FOR PANCHAYAT RAJ & RURAL DEV. The Court made the following : THE HON'BLE SMT JUSTICE T.MEENA KUMARI & THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT APPEAL NO : 78 of 2009 JUDGMENT: (Per Hon’ble Sri Justice C.V. Nagarjuna Reddy) This writ appeal is filed against order dated 26.11.2008 in WPMP No.33719 of 2008 in WP No.25788 of 2008, to the extent of denial of relief of complete stay of judgment dated 20.11.2008 in O.P.No.5 of 2006. Heard Sri M. Chandrasekhar Rao for Sri K. Muralidhar Reddy, learned Counsel appearing for the appellant and Sri P. Veera Reddy, learned Counsel for respondent No.1. The appellant was elected as Sarpanch of Vinjamuru Grampanchayat, Chinthapalli Mandal, Nalgonda District. The said election of Sarpanch was questioned by respondent No.1 before the Election Tribunal-cum-Junior Civil Judge at Deverakonda (for short, “the Election Tribunal”) in O.P.No.5 of 2006. After a fullfledged trial, the Election Tribunal allowed the O.P., set aside the election of the appellant and declared respondent No.1 as having been duly elected as Sarpanch. The ground, on which the said order was passed, was that as on the date of filing of nomination, the appellant has not completed 21 years of age. Feeling aggrieved by the said order of the Election Tribunal, the appellant filed W.P.No.25788 of 2008. She also filed WPMP No.33719 of 2008 in the said writ seeking suspension of the order of the Election Tribunal. The learned Single Judge by order under appeal partly stayed the said order of the Election Tribunal to the extent of respondent No.1 being declared as having been elected as Sarpanch of Grampanchayath. Though the learned Counsel for the appellant tried to persuade us to suspend the entire order of the election tribunal, we are of the view that the learned Single Judge exercised his discretion in partly staying the order of the Tribunal. We are, therefore, not inclined to interfere with the discretion exercised by the learned single Judge, more so, when the order was passed by the Election Tribunal after due consideration of the entire evidence placed before it. Another reason for our disinclination to suspend the entire order is that the appellant already ceased to be the Sarpanch by virtue of order of the Election Tribunal dated 20.11.2008. For these reasons, the writ appeal is dismissed. As the dispute pertains to the election, we deem it appropriate that the Registrar shall post the writ petition for final hearing at an early date. Accordingly, the writ petition is directed to be posted on 16th March, 2009 before the learned single Judge having the roster to hear the case. ________________________ Justice T. Meena Kumari _____________________________ Justice C.V. Nagarjuna Reddy Dated: 9th February, 2009 Nn. THE HON'BLE SMT JUSTICE T.MEENA KUMARI & THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT APPEAL NO : 78 of 2009 (Judgment delivered by the Hon’ble Sri Justice C.V. Nagarjuna Reddy) 09.2.2009