IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No.7831 of 2010 DATE OF DECISION: May 26, 2010 Arjan and others …..Petitioners versus State of Haryana and others .....Respondents CORAM:- HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJAN GUPTA Present: Mr.S.S. Godara, Advocate for the petitioners Mr.Deepak Jindal, Deputy Advocate General, Haryana, for respondents No.1 to 5 Mr.P.K. Ganga, Advocate for respondent No.6 .. RAJAN GUPTA, J.: The petitioners have preferred the instant writ petition seeking a writ in the nature of certiorari for quashing the orders dated 27.3.2010 (Annexures P4/1 to P4/11) passed by respondent No.4, deleting the names of the petitioners from the voter-list of village Geelan Khera, Tehsil and District Fatehabad. Learned counsel for the petitioners contends that all the petitioners are permanent residents of village Geelan Khera and they have been living there for many decades. Their names also appeared in the voter-list prepared under the Representation of the People Act, 1951, for election to local assembly. Thus, their names have been wrongly deleted from the voter-list for Panchayat elections of village Geelan Khera. Learned counsel has also submitted Civil Writ Petition No.7831 of 2010 - 2 – that all the petitioners have the voter identity cards issued by the Election Commission of India. He has referred to sections 162, 163 and 164 of Haryana Panchayati Raj Act, 1994, to contend that names of the petitioners have been wrongly deleted from the voter-list in question. Learned State counsel has, however, refuted the contentions made by learned counsel for the petitioners. He has referred to reply filed by the State and submitted that claims/objections were to be finally disposed of by Ist April, 2010. Learned State counsel points out that one Sajjan Kumar had filed eleven separate objections against inclusion of petitioners' names on March 27, 2010 and said objections were supported by one Indu Bala. The Patwari Halqa-cum-Booth Level Officer gave his report on each of the objections and stated that petitioners had left village Geelan Khera and had started living in village Kukranwali, Tehsil and District Fatehabad. Thereafter, the objector as well as petitioners were summoned by the BDPO, Fatehabad. While the objector appeared before the said officer, the petitioners failed to appear despite notice. Thus, their names were deleted from the voter-list. I have heard learned counsel for the parties. It is evident that on eleven separate objections submitted by one Sajjan Kumar against inclusion of petitioners' names in the voter-list of village Geelan Khera, a report was obtained from Halqa Patwari which clearly stated that petitioners had left the village and had started living in village Kukranwali. From a perusal of 2 Civil Writ Petition No.7831 of 2010 - 3 – reply filed by the State, it also appears that two officials i.e. Election Kanungo and Gram Sachiv were deputed for spot verification. Both of them reported that petitioners had shifted their residence to village Kukranwali. On the basis of these reports, it was decided to delete the names of the petitioners from the voter-list pertaining to village Geelan Khera. Learned counsel for the petitioners has not been able to point out any infirmity legal or otherwise with the decision taken by the District Election Officer. I am, thus, of the considered view that there is no merit in this petition. The same is hereby dismissed. May 26, 2010 ( RAJAN GUPTA ) pc JUDGE 3