IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH C.W.P. No.14121 of 2008 DATE OF DECISION: NOVEMBER 18, 2008 Kartinder Pal and others .....PETITIONERS Versus State of Punjab and others ....RESPONDENTS CORAM: HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE SATISH KUMAR MITTAL HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE JASWANT SINGH --- Present: Ms. Amandeep Kaur Dhiman, Advocate, for the petitioners. Mr.M.S. Sindhu, Addl.A.G.,Punjab, for respondents No.1 to 3. Mr. Kewal Singh, Advocate, for respondents No.4 and 5. .. SATISH KUMAR MITTAL, J. (ORAL) The petitioners, who are three elected Panches out of five of Village Gram Panchayat Singhpura, District Ludhiana, have filed this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for issuing direction to the official respondents to elect petitioner No.1, who belongs to Scheduled Caste category, as Sarpanch of the Gram Panchayat. The written statement filed on behalf of respondents No.4 and 5 is taken on record. Undisputedly, the office of Sarpanch of Village Gram Panchayat Singhpura has been reserved under Section 12 of the Punjab Panchayati Raj Act, 1994, for Scheduled Caste (Woman). The case of the petitioners is that though one Scheduled Caste (Woman) is a member of the C.W.P. No.14121 of 2008 -2- Gram Panchayat, but no member had proposed and seconded her name, therefore, she could not be elected as Sarpanch of the Gram Panchayat. In those circumstances, it is the case of the petitioners that petitioner No.1 should be elected as Sarpanch of the Gram Panchayat as he belongs to Scheduled Caste category. Counsel for the respondents pointed out that during the pendency of this petition, an amendment has been made in the Punjab Panchayat Election Rules, 1994 vide notification dated 11th November, 2008 to the effect that if there is only one candidate available for the office of Sarpanch of the reserved category of Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Caste (Woman), then he/she shall be deemed to have been elected unopposed for the office of Sarpanch. Counsel for the respondent-State, on instructions of Shri Navneet Joshi, Block Development and Panchayat Officer, Ludhiana-I, states that in view of the said amendment one Jaswinder Kaur-respondent No.4, who is a Scheduled Caste (Woman) member, has been elected as Sarpanch. In view of this fact, in our view, the claim of petitioner No.1 to elect him as Sarpanch of the Gram Panchayat, cannot be considered. Thus, now we do not find any ground to issue any direction to the official respondents to elect petitioner No.1 as Sarpanch of the Gram Panchayat. Dismissed. (SATISH KUMAR MITTAL) JUDGE November 18, 2008 ( JASWANT SINGH ) vkg JUDGE