Civil Writ Petition No. 18437 of 2010 1 In the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, at Chandigarh. Civil Writ Petition No. 18437 of 2010 Date of Decision: 11.10.2010 Kulwinder Kaur and Another …Petitioners Versus Financial Commissioner and Secretary, Punjab Government, Rural Development and Panchayat Department, Punjab and Others …Respondents CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA. Present: Mr. P.P.S.Duggal, Advocate for the petitioners. Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia, J. (Oral) Issue notice of motion to respondents No.1 to 3. On asking of the Court, Ms. Ambika Luthra, Assistant Advocate General, Punjab, accepts notice on behalf of respondents No.1 to 3. The present writ petition has been filed by Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat, Bhutta, Block Khumano, along with one Panch, to assail the order dated 30.8.2010 (Annexure P4), passed by respondent No.1- Financial Commissioner and Secretary, Punjab Government, Rural Development and Panchayat Department, Punjab, whereby he had reinstated three Panches of the Gram Panchayat, Village Bhutta,who were removed under Section 20(1)(F) of the Punjab Panchayati Raj Act, 1994 (hereinafter referred to as “Act 1994”), for not attending the Civil Writ Petition No. 18437 of 2010 2 proceedings of the said Gram Panchayat. Respondent No.1 had passed the impugned orders dated 30.8.2010 (Annexure P4, P5 and P6), to hold that the removal of the Panches was not made out as to express dissent is essentially part of democratic process. Therefore, he had observed as under:- “...Keeping in view of Section 20(1)(d) of the Panchayati Raj Act, 1994, if any Panch of Gram Panchayat, continuously, without any solid reason, does not partake into the Panchayat proceedings for two months, thus, he comes into the ambit of disciplinary action, while in the present case, the appellant has not joined only one meeting. Thus, I set aside the order passed by the Director, regarding removing the appellant by order dated 6.5.2010 and accept the appeal of the appellant and reinstate the Panch on his post”. Thus, no infirmity can be pointed out to the well reasoned orders passed by respondent No.1. However, to allay the apprehension of the petitioners, it is ordered that for a period of one year, the concerned Block Development and Panchayat Officer shall act as an Observer in the meetings of the Gram Panchayat, Village Bhutta, to be held according to the requirement of the statute. For each meeting, to be convened, the Panchayat Secretary shall issue a prior notice to all the office bearers of the said Gram Panchayat, after following due procedure. Civil Writ Petition No. 18437 of 2010 3 With the observations made above, the present writ petition is disposed of. (Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia) Judge October 11, 2010 “DK”