IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No.19623 of 2009 Date of decision:18.12.2009 Manjeet Kaur, Sarpanch ....Petitioner versus State of Punjab and others ...Respondents CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE K. KANNAN ---- Present: Mr. G.S.Sandhu, Advocate, for the petitioner. ---- 1. Whether reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment ? 2. To be referred to the reporters or not ? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the digest ? ---- K.Kannan, J. (Oral) 1. The order under challenge is a direction by the District Development and Panchayat Officer, appointing an administrator on the ground that the meetings are not properly held and 5 panchayat members had sent communication on 29.10.2009 stating that no meeting of the gram panchayat is called and the development work had not been started. The Block Development Officer has recorded the fact that there are unspent grants to the tune of Rs.7.16 lakhs and 0.40 lakh which are still lying in the panchayat fund. It was under such a circumstance when he found that the affairs of the panchayat are not being properly run. The recommendations of the BDO for an administrator of the gram panchayat has been made under such circumstances and that had been acted upon to pass the impugned order. The impugned order itself apprises the fact that if the gram panchayat is not satisfied with the order, it could still be Civil Writ Petition No.19623 of 2009 - 2 - challenged before the Government under Section 201 of the Punjab Panchayati Raj Act. It empowers the State Government to call for the proceeding of the panchayat and take appropriate action on the legality and propriety of any executive order passed. It has also the power to confirm, modify and rescind the order. The petitioner has an effective alternative remedy to redress its grievance and an interference sought through a writ petition at this stage is, in my view, not warranted. 2. The writ petition is, accordingly, dismissed. No costs. (K.KANNAN) JUDGE 18.12.2009 sanjeev