CWP No.11946 of 2010 1 IN THE HIGH OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CWP No.11946 of 2010 Date of Decision: 09.08.2010 Harpreet Kaur ..Petitioner Vs. State of Punjab & Ors. ..Respondents Coram: Hon'ble Mr. Justice Vinod K.Sharma Present: Mr.G.S.Lalli, Advocate, for the petitioner. Mr.N.S.Virk, Addl.A.G., Punjab, for the respondents. --- Vinod K.Sharma,J. (Oral) The petitioner has invoked the writ jurisdiction of this Court with the following prayer:- “i) Record of the case may be summoned; ii) issue a writ in the nature of mandamus for declaring the petitioner as Sarpanch of the village as the seat is reserved for Scheduled Caste Woman by ignoring all the rules the Presiding Officer declared respondent No.7 as Sarpanch and various inquiries held indicted the Presiding Officer and the election CWP No.11946 of 2010 2 was held to be in violation of rules and declaring the earlier result as void. iii) issue any other writ, order or direction which this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper in the peculiar facts and circumstances of the present case, iv) Service of prior notice on the respondents may be dispensed with; v) filing of certified copies of Annexures may kindly be dispensed with; vi) Costs of this petition may be awarded. The petitioner seeks declaration, that petitioner be declared as Sarpanch of the village, on the pleadings that she belongs to the Scheduled Caste category and had contested the election for the seat reserved for Scheduled Caste (Woman). It is not in dispute, that the post of Sarpanch is reserved for Scheduled Caste (Woman) category. Total strength of Gram Panchayat is of 7 panches elected from the village. Election for the post of Sarpanch was held in July, 2008 in the presence of Presiding Officer. At the time of election two names were proposed that of the petitioner and respondent No.7. As four out of seven panches were with respondent No.7, who belongs to Scheduled Caste (Male) Category, he was declared elected as Sarpanch. The petitioner being aggrieved by the election of respondent CWP No.11946 of 2010 3 No.7 as Sarpanch made a representation to the Deputy Commissioner-cum- District Electoral Officer for declaring the election of respondent No.7 to be void being against the statutory Rules. Deputy Commissioner accepted the representation and declared election of respondent No.7 to be void and directed holding of election afresh. District Education Officer was appointed as Observer and the election was again held on 21.8.2008 but the Observer again declared respondent No.7, as elected because the majority panches were with respondent No.7. Challenge of the petitioner, to the election of respondent No.7 is, that the petitioner being Scheduled Caste woman candidate was liable to be declared elected, as the post of Sarpanch was reserved for Scheduled Caste (Woman) candidate. There being no other Scheduled Caste (Woman) candidate in the array, in view of Rule 45-A Clause (8) of Punjab State Election Commission Rules (for short the Rules). Rule 45-A Clause 8 reads as under:- “(8) The election of the Sarpanch shall be made from the category for which it is reserved. If there is only one candidate available for the office of Sarpanch of that particular reserved category, then he/she shall be deemed to have been elected unopposed for the office of Sarpanch. The copy of the result of the election of Sarpanch so held, shall immediately be, sent by the Officer, the Election Commission and the State Government CWP No.11946 of 2010 4 and a copy of the same may also be given to the elected candidate.” Notice of motion was issued. Written statement has been filed, wherein facts are not disputed, but only plea raised is, that the petitioner had not claimed her right under section 45-A (8) of the Rules, therefore, the election held cannot be faulted with. On consideration, I find force in the contention raised by the learned counsel for the petitioner. Once under the statutory rules a Scheduled Caste (Woman) is deemed to have been elected as Sarpanch, there was no necessity to hold any election, nor it was necessary for the petitioner to make any representation, as the authorities were bound by the statutory Rules. Plea taken by the respondent, therefore, deserves to be rejected, specially when the annexure attached with the written statement support the case of the petitioner, as the Government has proposed to take action against Presiding Officer for violating the statuary rules, in not declaring the petitioner as Sarpanch. For the reasons stated, this writ petition is allowed. Election of respondent No.7 as Sarpanch is set aside, and in view of the provisions of Section 45-A Clause (8) of the Rules, the petitioner is declared as Sarpanch of the village. No costs. 09.08.2010 (Vinod K.Sharma) rp Judge