LPA No. 1177 of 2010 (O&M) 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH LPA No. 1177 of 2010 (O&M) Date of decision: 31.01.2011 Gurmail Singh ......APPELLANT VERSUS State of Punjab and others ….. RESPONDENTS CORAM:HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE RANJAN GOGOI, ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH Present: Mr. V.K.Shukla, Advocate, for the appellant. Mr. R.S. Khosla, Addl. A.G. Punjab. *** RANJAN GOGOI, ACJ (Oral) This appeal has been filed against the order dated 09.07.2010 passed in CWP No. 11901 of 2010. The short question that arises is whether possession of land belonging to the Panchayat by the husband and brothers of respondent No. 5, who was elected as a Panch, would disqualify the said respondent from holding the office. The relevant provisions in this regard are to be found in LPA No. 1177 of 2010 (O&M) 2 Section 208 (j) and (k) of the Punjab Panchayati Raj Act, 1994 (in short 'the Act'), which are extracted below:- “208. Disqualification for Membership.-(1) A person shall be disqualified for being chosen as and for being a member of a Panchayat if,- xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx (j) is a tenant or lessee or contractor or shareholder in any property of the Gram Panchayat Samiti and Zila Parishad; or (k) is in unauthorized occupation of property belonging to any local authority.” A consideration of the above-stated provisions of the said Act would go to show that it is the possession of property or any of the situations contemplated by Section 208 (j) is in respect of the person who seeks to be elected/has been elected in the present case. It is the admitted case of the appellant that it is the husband and the brothers of respondent No. 5 who are holding the panchayat land. There is no such allegation in respect of respondent No. 5 herself. In such a situation, we fail to see how we could disagree with the views expressed by the learned Single Judge. The L.P.A., therefore, is without any substance. It is, accordingly, dismissed. No costs. ( RANJAN GOGOI ) ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE ( AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH ) JUDGE January 31, 2011 pj