IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. C.W.P. No. 14789 of 2008 DATE OF DECISION : 04.09.2008 Avtar Singh .... PETITIONER Versus State of Punjab and others ..... RESPONDENTS CORAM :- HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SATISH KUMAR MITTAL HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE JASWANT SINGH Present: Mr. J.S. Randhawa, Advocate, for the petitioner. * * * SATISH KUMAR MITTAL , J. ( Oral ) The petitioner, who has been elected as Panch of Gram Panchayat Village Gulab Garh, Tehsil Dera Bassi, District Mohali, had filed this petition in this Court on August 21, 2008, under Articles 226/227 of the Constitution of India for setting aside the election of respondent No.4 as Sarpanch of the aforesaid Gram Panchayat, on the ground that she was illegally elected as Sarpanch. After arguing for some time, counsel for the petitioner states that in view of the disputed questions of facts raised in this writ petition and further in view of decision of this Court in Baljit Singh v. State of Punjab and others (CWP No. 13643 of 2008, decided on August 22, 2008), wherein it has been held that in view of Clause (b) of Article 243-O of the Constitution of India and Section 74 of the Punjab State Election Commission Act, 1994 (hereinafter referred to as `the Act'), election of Sarpanch is to be challenged by filing an election petition under section 76 CWP No. 14789 of 2008 -2- on the grounds mentioned in Section 89 of the Act, the petitioner may be permitted to withdraw this petition with liberty to avail the remedy of election petition. However, counsel for the petitioner further submits that since the election petition was to be filed within 45 days from the date of election of the office of Sarpanch and within the said limitation, the petitioner had approached this Court and filed the present writ petition, therefore, in view of decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Danda Rajeshwari v. Bodavula Hanumayamma and others, (1996) 6 SCC 198, the petitioner may be permitted to file election petition within two weeks from today and in case election petition is filed within two weeks, the same may be directed to be heard on merits by the Election Tribunal. After hearing counsel for the petitioner and going through the aforesaid judgment of the Supreme Court, we permit the petitioner to withdraw this writ petition with liberty to file an election petition under Section 76 read with Section 89 of the Punjab State Election Commission Act, 1994, challenging the election of respondent No.4. Dismissed as withdrawn with the aforesaid liberty. However, if the election petition is filed by the petitioner within a period of two weeks from today, the Election Tribunal is directed to entertain the same on merits and decide the same expeditiously. ( SATISH KUMAR MITTAL ) JUDGE September 04, 2008 ( JASWANT SINGH ) ndj JUDGE