CWP No.7977 of 2010 1 IN THE HIGH COURT FOR THE STATES OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. Civil Writ Petition No.7977 of 2010 Date of decision: 4.5.2010 Surjit Singh ...Petitioner Versus State of Punjab & others ...Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJAN GUPTA Present: Mr. O.P. Kamboj, Advocate, for the petitioner. Rajan Gupta, J. (oral) The petitioner has sought a writ in the nature of certiorari for quashing of the order dated 21st April, 2010 (Annexure P-1), passed by State Election Commission, Punjab, whereby fresh election for the post of Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat Ali Ke Jhugian has been ordered by the Election Commission. Brief facts of the case are that election to Gram Panchayat Ali Ke Jhugian, Block Mandot, District Ferozepur was held on 26th May, 2008. On 18th January, 2009, a vacant seat was filled up by electing Mohinder Kaur as a lady Panch. Thereafter, election to the post of Sarpanch was slated to be held on 7th March, 2009. There was some dispute regarding the election, due to which petitioner filed writ petition (CWP 6357 of 2009) before this court. The said writ petition was disposed of by this court (Permod Kohli, J.) on 20th October, 2009, CWP No.7977 of 2010 2 directing the Election Commission to conduct an inquiry into the matter. Pursuant to same, the Election Commission conducted an inquiry and came to conclusion vide order, Annexure P-1 that the election to post of Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat Ali Ke Jhugian had not been free from fraud and thus, there was need to hold fresh election to the said post. Aggrieved, the petitioner has preferred the instant writ petition. Learned counsel for the petitioner has argued that the order passed by the Election Commission is unsustainable as it failed to consider the facts of the case in correct perspective. He submits that the order has not been passed in consonance with the direction issued by this court in CWP No.6357 of 2009. I have heard learned counsel for the petitioner and given careful thought to the facts of the case. It is evident that in the earlier writ petition i.e. CWP No.6357 of 2009, preferred by the petitioner, this court had directed the Election Commission to conduct an inquiry into the matter and had given a liberty to order fresh election in case fraud and forgery was detected during the inquiry. Operative part of the order passed by this court in the aforesaid writ petition reads thus:- “There are serious allegations of forgery and fraud allegedly committed by the petitioner in connivance with Mohinder Singh, Returning Officer. In normal course, when ever an election is completed, the remedy is to file election petition. However, where the allegations of fraud and forgery in the process of election are there and the preliminary enquiry also suggests the CWP No.7977 of 2010 3 same, the respondents cannot be relegated to the remedy of election petition which may take years together and in such an eventuality, the beneficiary of the fraud can continue to hold the post. Keeping in view the peculiar facts and circumstances of this case and deviating from the normal procedure/remedy available to the aggrieved persons, this petition is disposed of with a direction to respondent no.8- Punjab State Election Commission to hold an enquiry into the allegations of fraud and forgery. The said respondent shall also be at liberty to examine the record of police investigation, if any, held in this regard. Respondent No.8 shall associate the petitioner during the enquiry and provide him the opportunity of being heard as well. On the conclusion of the enquiry held by respondent No.8, if respondent No.8 is of the view/ opinion that fraud and forgery has been committed during the process of election, he is at liberty to direct re-election. However, if no fraud/forgery is detected during the course of enquiry, respondent No.8 shall accordingly make appropriate recommendations for notifying the election of the petitioner as Sarpanch. During the course of enquiry, respondent No.8 is at liberty to examine the Panches of the Panchayat whether they were notified for the election and they were present during the election or not. The entire process of enquiry be completed within a period of four weeks from today.” Pursuant to the above direction, the Election Commission conducted an inquiry. It came to the conclusion that the election to the post of Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat Ali Ke Jhugian was not free from fraud. It, however, refrained from commenting further as allegations of fraud and forgery were subject matter of police investigation. In terms of directions given by this court, it was directed to hold fresh election to the post of Sarpanch of village Ali Ke Jhugian. I am of the considered CWP No.7977 of 2010 4 view that the State Election Commission acted in compliance of the direction issued by this court in CWP No.6357 of 2009. Learned counsel for the petitioner has not been able to show any infirmity, legal or otherwise, with the impugned order dated 21st April, 2010, passed by the State Election Commission. I am, thus, of the considered view that the present petition is totally frivolous as it contains no arguable issue. The same is hereby dismissed. (RAJAN GUPTA) JUDGE 4.5.2010 'rajpal' To be referred to the Reporters or not: Yes / No