CWP No.2918 of 2010 1 IN THE HIGH COURT FOR THE STATES OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. Civil Writ Petition No.2918 of 2010 Date of decision: 4.3.2010 Satnam Singh ...Petitioner Versus The Secretary (Local Bodies), Punjab & others ...Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJAN GUPTA Present: Mr. R.P. Dhir, Advocate, for the petitioner. Rajan Gupta, J. (oral) The petitioner has sought a writ in the nature of certiorari for quashing impugned order dated 14th January, 2010, Annexure P-1, passed by Sub Divisional Magistrate, Tapa by virtue of which requisition moved by ten Municipal Councilors of Municipal Council, Bhadaur, District Barnala, for removing Jasbir Singh (respondent No.3) from the post of President of Municipal Council, Bhadaur, has been rejected. Brief factual background of the case is that on 17th December, 2009, a requisition for 'no confidence' was moved by ten municipal councillors against respondent No.3. The agenda of the meeting was circulated amongst the members, pursuant to which meeting was held on 14th January, 2010. The requisition was, however, rejected on the ground that same was not supported by 2/3rd of the CWP No.2918 of 2010 2 members of the Municipal Council. Number being short of the requisite majority, the motion was rejected. The resolution passed in the meeting dated 14th January, 2010, rejecting the motion has been impugned in the instant petition. Learned counsel for the petitioner has argued that nine members had voted in favour of the resolution constituting 2/3rd of the effective strength of the Municipal Council, thus, motion for 'no confidence' could not have failed. Moreover, local MLA could not be counted as member of Municipal Council as he was an ex-officio member by virtue of his office. I have heard learned counsel for the petitioner and given careful thought to the facts of the case. It is evident that on a 'no confidence motion' being moved, a meeting of the Municipal Council, Bhadaur was held on 14th January, 2010 and the same was presided over by Sub Divisional Magistrate, Tapa, District Barnala. In the said meeting, nine members voted in favour of 'no confidence' motion against respondent No.3. The motion was, however, rejected on the ground that same did not have support of 2/3rd of the members of the Municipal Council. The relevant part of the resolution reads thus:- “At present Municipal Council Bhadaur is consisting of 14 members out of which 13 are elected and one is M.L.A. of the area. So, in this way 9 councillors cast their vote against the President. Because in order to carry out no confidence motion, support of 2/3rd of the members i.e. 10 members are CWP No.2918 of 2010 3 required, but only 9 members have casted their vote in favour of the resolution which is less than 2/3rd. So, the resolution which was moved against the President is rejected due to less number. A copy of the proceedings are sent to the concerned officials for further action. So this meeting is concluded after moving a motion of thanks. Sd/- Convener 14.1.10 Sub Divisional Magistrate, Tapa.” Learned counsel for the petitioner has not been able to point out any legal infirmity with the resolution aforesaid. He has not been able to show that local MLA could not be considered a member of the Municipal Council being ex-officio member. It is also not clear as to how the resolution passed in the meeting of Municipal Council has been challenged straightway in the writ jurisdiction of this court. The petition appears to be misconceived. In any case there appears to be no legal infirmity with the resolution passed in the meeting of the Municipal Council held on 14th January, 2010 and thus no interference in writ jurisdiction of this court is called for. I, thus, find no merit in this petition. The same is hereby dismissed. (RAJAN GUPTA) JUDGE March 04, 2010 'rajpal'