CWP No.3790 of 2010 1 IN THE HIGH COURT FOR THE STATES OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. Civil Writ Petition No.3790 of 2010 Date of decision: 15.03.2010 Karamjit Singh Member Panchayat ...Petitioner Versus State of Punjab and others ...Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJAN GUPTA Present: Mr. Sanjeev Kumar Bawa, Advocate, for the petitioner. Rajan Gupta, J. (oral) The petitioner has impugned order dated 1st January, 2010, Annexure P-2, passed by Director, Rural Development and Panchayat Punjab dismissing the petitioner from the post of Panch of Gram Panchayat Village Ugani, Tehsil Rajpura, District Patiala. Brief factual background of the case is that petitioner was elected as Panch of Gram Panchayat Ugani unanimously in backward class category on 26th May, 2008. Vide order dated 11th November, 2008, a regular inquiry against the petitioner was entrusted to District Development and Panchayat Officer, Patiala. The allegation against him was that he had constructed a house in Khasra Nos. 125 & 126 i.e. Shamlat land of Gram Panchayat. According to Jamabandi for 2005-06, he was in illegal possession of the same. The Enquiry Officer after conducting a detailed enquiry, sent his report vide letter No.5669 dated 2nd March, 2009. A show cause notice dated 24th April, 2009 was CWP No.3790 of 2010 2 thereafter issued to the petitioner under Section 20 of the Punjab Panchayati Raj Act, 1994 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”). The petitioner submitted his reply to the show cause notice stating therein that allegations had been levelled against him due to party faction in the village. However, on the basis of record, Director, Rural Development and Panchayat came to the conclusion that petitioner was in illegal possession of Shamlat land (Khasra Nos.125 & 126) and had constructed a house thereon. He, therefore, passed impugned order dated 1st January, 2010 removing the petitioner from the post of Panch and restraining him from contesting elections for five years in exercise of the power under Section 20 of the Act. Aggrieved, the petitioner has impugned the said order in the present writ petition. Learned counsel for the petitioner has argued that on similar allegations, an election petition is pending against the petitioner and thus, order of removal could not have been passed without awaiting the outcome thereof. Besides, petitioner has been implicated only due to party faction in the village. He has also referred to Jamabandi for the year 2005-06 in order to contend that conclusion arrived at by the Enquiry Officer is wrong, thus reliance thereon by respondent No.2 is misplaced. I have heard learned counsel for the petitioner and carefully perused the record annexed to the petition. It is evident that a detailed enquiry was conducted by the Enquiry Officer who found that petitioner was in illegal possession of CWP No.3790 of 2010 3 Shamlat land of Gram Panchayat comprised in Khasra Nos.125 & 126 and had raised construction thereon. Respondent No.2 examined the record produced on the file including the enquiry report and came to the conclusion that illegal possession of the petitioner was proved beyond doubt. The petitioner was unable to rebut the charges levelled against him. On that basis, it was decided to remove the petitioner from the post of Panch and to debar him from contesting elections for five years in exercise of power under Section 20 of the Act. Learned counsel has not been able to point out any legal infirmity with the impugned order. Only factual contentions have been raised with regard to the conduct of enquiry, factionalism in village and inimical attitude of respondent No.5. This court is not impressed with these factual contentions raised by counsel for the petitioner. The same cannot be adjudicated upon in writ jurisdiction of this court. After the authorities below came to a clear cut conclusion that petitioner was in illegal possession of Shamlat land, there was no question of retaining him on the post of Panch. In my considered view, it is not possible to find any fault with the decision of the authority below to remove the petitioner from the post of Panch of Gram Panchayat Ugani and to debar him from contesting elections for five years. The writ petition is, thus, devoid of merits and is hereby dismissed. (RAJAN GUPTA) JUDGE 15.03.2010 'rajpal'