IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH C.W.P. No.14128 of 2008 DATE OF DECISION: AUGUST 12, 2008 Sukhdip Singh .....PETITIONER Versus The State of Punjab and others ....RESPONDENTS CORAM: HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE SATISH KUMAR MITTAL HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE DAYA CHAUDHARY --- Present: Mr. R.S. Chouhan, Advocate, for the petitioner. .. SATISH KUMAR MITTAL, J. In this writ petition, the petitioner raised the question whether the election of Sarpanch of the Gram Panchayat of Village Akoi Sahib, Tehsil and District Sangrur can be kept in abeyance till filling up of the casual vacancy of the Member, Gram Panchayat, which has occurred due to the death of one Member, after notification of the election of the Gram Panchayat under Section 13 of the Punjab Panchayati Raj Act, 1994 (hereinafter referred to as `the Act'). In this case, the State of Punjab vide Gazette Notification dated 12.2.2008 issued under Section 10(2) of the Act constituted Gram Sabha Akoi Sahib consisting of seven members. Subsequently, as per the election programme, the election for the office of Panches was held in village Akoi Sahib on 26.5.2008. All seven Panches were duly elected as C.W.P. No.14128 of 2008 -2- per the reservation. Thereafter, the said election was duly notified under Section 13 of the Act. After the said notification, one elected Panch, namely, Harminder Singh, was murdered on 24.6.2008. Subsequently, the Deputy Commissioner in exercise of the powers under Section 13-A of the Act authorised respondent No.4 to convene the meeting of the newly elected Panches for election for the office of Sarpanch. In view of the said authorization, respondent No.4 convened a meeting of the Panches for election for the office of Sarpanch on 12.8.2008. The petitioner, who is one of the resident of the village, has filed the instant petition for issuing direction to respondents No.3 and 4 not to convene the meeting of Panches and to hold the election for the office of Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat of Village Akoi Sahib without filling up the casual vacancy which has occurred due to the death of one of the elected Panch. Counsel for the petitioner contends that until and unless the casual vacancy is filled up and the election of all the seven seats of the Panchayat is completed, the election for the office of Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat cannot be conducted. Counsel further contends that the office of Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat of Village Akoi Sahib is for general category. The petitioner also wants to contest the vacant seat of Panch and if he is elected as Panch, he can also contest the election for the office of Sarpanch. We do not find any merit in the contention raised by the counsel for the petitioner. In our opinion, at this stage, the petitioner, who is yet to contest the election of Panch, has no locus standi to seek the aforesaid direction. Moreover, none of the elected Panches is having any C.W.P. No.14128 of 2008 -3- grouse against holding of the election for the office of Sarpanch. Section 10 of the Act provides that every Gram Sabha shall elect from amongst its members a Gram Panchayat for the Gram Sabha area bearing the name of its Gram Sabha and consisting of such number of Panches as notified in the Official Gazette. In the instant case, according to the notification Annexure P-1, the Gram Sabha of village Akoi Sahib is to elect seven members of the Gram Panchayat. Section 13(1) of the Act further provides that every election of Panch shall be notified by the State Government in the Official Gazette and no member shall enter upon his duties until his election has been so notified and he has taken an oath or affirmation as specified in Schedule 1. In the instant case, the election of all the seven members of the Gram Panchayat of Village Akoi Sahib was duly held and seven members were duly elected. Undisputedly, their election has also been duly notified by the Government. Further, Section 13-A of the Act provides for holding of the first meeting of the Gram Panchayat and election of the Sarpanch by the members of the Gram Panchayt. This Section further provides that Deputy Commissioner or any officer or official of the State Government, authorised by him in this behalf, shall call the first meeting of the Gram Panchayat in the manner, as may be prescribed, as soon as, the election of all Panches is notified, to elect the Sarpanch from amongst them. After issuance of the notification under Section 13 of the Act and before convening the meeting of the Gram Panchayat, one elected member was murdered. That casual vacancy is to be filled up according to the provisions contained in Section 22 of the Act which provide that whenever a vacancy occurs by death, resignation, removal or otherwise of C.W.P. No.14128 of 2008 -4- a Sarpanch or of a Panch the vacancy shall be filled up by way of election. Sub-section (2) of Section 22 further provides that a person elected to fill a casual vacancy under sub-section (1) shall be elected for the remainder of his predecessor's term of office. Proviso to the said sub-section further provides that where the remainder of period for which a Panch or Sarpanch is to be elected is less than six months, it shall not be necessary to hold any election under this section to fill such a vacancy. In our opinion, when after the election of all the Panches of Gram Panchayat of village Akoi Sahib has been duly notified then holding of the election for the office of Sarpanch in the meeting which was convened under Section 13-A of the Act, cannot be kept in abeyance till filling-up of the casual vacancy. The casual vacancy is required to be filled up by way of election. Though no specific time has been given for re- election for filling up of the casual vacancy, but from the reading of the Proviso, it appears that re-election for filling up of the casual vacancy should be done within six months. In our opinion, for six months the election of the Sarpanch cannot be kept in abeyance particularly when election of all the Panches was duly notified by the State Government, and thereafter, a casual vacancy has occurred due to death of one member. Counsel for the petitioner has relied upon an interim order passed by this court in CWP No.11123 of 2008 which was based upon a decision of this court reported as Mehar Chand and another vs. T.D.Sharma and others, 1980 PLJ 671. In the said case, out of seven Panches to be elected to the Gram Panchayat, only five have been declared elected and the remaining two persons were still to be elected and the election result of the Gram Panchayat was not notified under Section 13 of C.W.P. No.14128 of 2008 -5- the Act. In our opinion, the said decision will not help the petitioner, because in the instant case the election of Gram Panchayat has already been notified. In view of the above, we do not find any merit in this petition and the same is hereby dismissed. (SATISH KUMAR MITTAL) JUDGE August 12, 2008 ( DAYA CHAUDHARY ) vkg JUDGE Referred to Reporter