IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA, CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No.6118 of 2009 Date of Decision: May 21, 2009 Darshan Singh .....PETITIONER(S) VERSUS State of Punjab & Others .....RESPONDENT(S) . . . CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AJAI LAMBA PRESENT: - Mr. Liaqat Ali, Advocate, for the petitioner. Mr. Anil Sharma, Senior Deputy Advocate General, Punjab, for the respondents. . . . AJAI LAMBA, J (Oral) The petitioner, in this civil writ petition, prays for issuance of a writ in the nature of mandamus directing the respondents to fix a date for hearing of the election petition. I have heard the learned counsel. Under Chapter XII of the Punjab State Election Commission Act, 1994 (for short, `the Act’), an election petition is required to be dealt with expeditiously and disposed of preferably within six months. The relevant provisions [Section 80(5) & (6) of the Act] read as under:- “80. Trial of election petitions.- xx xx xx xx xx xx CWP No.6118 of 2009 [2] (5) The trial of an election petition shall, so far as is practicable consistently with the interest of justice in respect of the trial be continued from day-to-day until the conclusion, unless the Election Tribunal finds the adjournment of the trial beyond the following day to be necessary for reasons to be recorded in writing. (6) Every election petition shall be tried as expeditiously as possible and every endeavour shall be made to conclude the trial within a period of six months from the date on which the election petition is presented to the Election Tribunal for trial.” In the case in hand, surprisingly, after filing of the election petition, no date has been given by the Election Tribunal. Summons were received for a date. Thereafter, the petitioner has not been informed about the next date. The case has not proceeded. Clearly the statutory authority has failed in discharge of its statutory functions. It is directed that respondent No.2 i.e. Presiding Officer, Election Tribunal –cum- Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development), Ludhiana, who is required to hear the election petition, would fix a date within two weeks from receipt of certified copy of this order. The matter would proceed as provided under Section 80(5) of the Act. The Tribunal would be required to assign reasonable cause for each adjournment and the trial of the election petition shall be conducted strictly in conformity with the provisions reproduced above. The petition is disposed of accordingly. Copy of the order be sent to the Chief Secretary and the Election Commissioner, Punjab. (AJAI LAMBA) May 21, 2009 JUDGE avin