CWP No. 16227 of 2008 1 In the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh … CWP No. 16227 of 2008 Date of decision: February 19,2010 Harjaap Kaur and others ..Petitioners Versus State of Punjab and others ..Respondents Coram: Hon'ble Mr.Justice Rajan Gupta Present: Mr. M.L.Saini, Advocate for the Petitioners. Mr. J.S.Puri, Addl.A.G.Punjab for respondent Nos. 1 to 4 Mr. N.P.S.Mann, Advocate for respondent Nos.5 and 6 ... Rajan Gupta,J.(Oral) In this writ petition, the petitioners have sought a writ in the nature of certiorari for quashing notification dated 17.7.2007 (Annexure P- 2) issued by respondent no.3 on the ground that the same is illegal, arbitrary and politically motivated. The grievance of the petitioner is that the post of sarpanch of Gram Panchayat village Khad Bathlaur Hethla was declared to be in general category vide notification dated 15.7.2008 (Annexure P-1). However, merely two days thereafter i.e., 17.7.2008 notification(Annexure P-2) was issued whereby the said post was reserved for scheduled caste category. The said notification has been assailed by the petitioner on the ground that the post could not have been reserved by issuing a subsequent notification to the disadvantage of the petitioner. Learned counsel for the petitioner has CWP No. 16227 of 2008 2 argued that action of the respondents is patently illegal, arbitrary and unsustainable in law. The State counsel has however submitted that the total number of the offices of Sarpanches of Gram Panchayat to be reserved for Scheduled Castes have been decided at the district level and not at the block level and in addition to it the roster of reservation of Gram Panchayat has been prepared at the block level in compliance with the notification (Annexure P-5). According to counsel, immediately after notification (Annexure P-1) was issued, a mistake was realized and same was corrected by issuing another notification(Annexure P-2) and the post of sarpanch for Gram Panchayat village Khad Bathlaur Hethla was reserved for scheduled caste in compliance with the Government Notification No.GSR.29/P.A.9/1994/Ss.12,106 and 227/Amd.(2)/2008 dated 10.4.2008 attached a Annexure R-5. According to him, the same was done strictly in accordance with the roster. Learned counsel referred to the affidavit dated 17.7.2009 filed by Priyank Bharti, Deputy Commissioner, Ropar in this regard. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and given careful thought to the facts of the case. It is evident that notification Annexure P-2 was issued shortly after notification Annexure P-1 and the post of Sarpanch in village Bathlaur was reserved for scheduled caste category. According to the roster, the said post should actually had been reserved for Scheduled Caste category but was erroneously shown in general category vide notification Annexure P-1. In the affidavit filed by the CWP No. 16227 of 2008 3 Deputy Commissioner in support of the stand, detailed reasons have been given in para No.4, which reads thus:- “ That initially vide notification dated 15.7.2008, office of the Sarpanch for Panchayat Khad Bathlaur Hethla was kept as General. Further as mentioned in the main reply of para No.10; it came to the notice that 27 % SC Population requires not 159 but 160 SC Sarpanch seats out of total 594 Panchayats in the District (594x27%=160.38). Therefore, in order to provide SC's their due share in the office of Sarpanches, the reservation of the office of the Sarpanch of the newly formed Gram Panchayat Khad Bathlaur Hethla had been changed from General to SC. As per the resolution of Gram Panchaya t Khad Bathlaur Hethla, dated 19.7.2008 Shri Jagdish Singh (SC) was elected as Sarpanch (SC).” Learned counsel for the petitioner has not been able to point out any infirmity in the stand taken by the State Government. No rejoinder has been filed on behalf of the petitioners contradicting the stand taken by the State before this Court. It appears that vide notification (Annexure P-1), the post of Sarpanch of village Bathlaur was wrongly shown in the general category for which remedial measures were taken by issuing another notification (Annexure P-2). It is evident that reservation to Gram Panchayat in question was made to provide due share to the Scheduled Castes in the office of Sarpanches keeping in view 27 % reservation for Scheduled Castes. Thus 160 posts and not 159 were required to be reserved for them out of the total 594 posts of sarpanches in the district. CWP No. 16227 of 2008 4 I thus find that the stand of the petitioners is without any merit. The petition is devoid of merits and the same is hereby dismissed. February 19,2010 (RAJAN GUPTA) nk JUDGE