IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH C.W.P. No.9750 of 2008 DATE OF DECISION: OCTOBER 15, 2008 Kuldeep Singh and others .....PETITIONERS Versus State of Punjab and others ....RESPONDENTS CORAM: HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE SATISH KUMAR MITTAL HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE JASWANT SINGH --- Present: Mr. M.L.Saggar, Sr. Advocate, with Mr.G.P.Vashist, Advocate, for the petitioners. Mr.N.D.S.Mann, Addl.Advocate General,Punjab. Mr.Arun Bansal, Advocate, for respondents No.9 to 12. .. SATISH KUMAR MITTAL, J. The petitioners, who are residents and voters of village Dhamoli, Tehsil Rajpura, District Patiala, have filed this petition under Articles 226/227 of the Constitution of India for quashing the declaration of result of the polling conducted on 26.5.2008 for the election of Members of the Gram Panchayat. In nutshell, the case of the petitioners is that Gram Panchayat of Village Dhamoli consists seven posts of Panches. As per the notification issued under Section 11 of the Punjab Panchayati Raj Act, 1994, three C.W.P. No.9750 of 2008 -2- seats of Panches have been reserved for General Category, two for Women, one for Scheduled Caste and one for Backward Class category. It is the case of the petitioners that for the election which was to be held on 26.5.2008, twenty three candidates of different categories filed their nomination papers for the election of aforesaid seven Members of the Gram Panchayat. Out of twenty three candidates, nine candidates withdrew their nomination papers and thereafter only fourteen candidates remained in fray. It is further the case of the petitioners that one candidate, namely, Smt.Usha Rani (respondent No.14) contested the election of Panch against the seat reserved for General Category and she was allotted the symbol of `Umbrella', but later on, on the date of polling, her name did not find figure in the ballot papers and she was illegally declared elected as Panch from the reserved category of `Women' as uncontested candidate. After the election, Ujagar Singh, Bawa Singh and Smt.Gurnam Kaur (respondents No.10 to 12 herein) were declared elected against the seats reserved for General Category. Karamjit Singh was declared elected against the seat reserved for Scheduled Caste category and one Mohan Singh was declared elected against the seat reserved for Backward Class category. In the written statement filed on behalf of respondents No.2 and 5, it has been admitted that in the Gram Panchayat, Dhamoli there were seven posts of Panches in which three seats of Panches were reserved for General Category, two for Women, one for Scheduled Caste and one for Backward Class category. It has been further admitted that total twenty three candidates filed their nomination papers for posts of Panches in various categories. Out of twenty three candidates, nine candidates C.W.P. No.9750 of 2008 -3- withdrew their nomination papers. It has been stated that Smt.Usha Rani- (respondent No.14) had filed her nomination papers against two seats reserved for `Women'. Since she was the only candidate in that category, therefore, after scrutiny, she was declared elected as Panch from the reserved category of Women as unopposed and one seat reserved for Woman remained vacant. Regarding the remaining five posts, i.e., three for General Category, one for Scheduled Caste and one for Backward Class categories, thirteen candidates remained in fray and they contested the election on 26.5.2008 in which Karamjit Singh, Ujagar Singh, Bawa Singh, Gurnam Kaur and Mohan Singh, i.e., respondents No.9 to 12 and 16, were declared elected as Panches. In the written statement, a definite averment has been made that Smt.Usha Rani filed her nomination papers against the seat reserved for `Women' and after scrutiny she was declared elected as unopposed in the said category in view of Section 54 of the Punjab State Election Commission Act, 1994 because in that category there was no other candidate. In view of this uncontroverted averment made in the written statement, we do not find any illegality in the conduct of election of the Panches of Gram Panchayat of Village Dhamoli. The petitioners have neither annexed the nomination paper of Smt.Usha Rani nor the election result showing that she had contested the election of Panch against the seat reserved for General Category or she was allotted the symbol of Umbrella. In the writ petition, only an averment has been made to this effect which has been controverted by Shri Kuldeep Singh, Assistant Divisional Returning Officer, Rajpura by way of affidavit. In view of the specific averments made in the written statement by way of affidavit, which C.W.P. No.9750 of 2008 -4- remained uncontroverted, we do not find any merit in this petition and the same is hereby dismissed. (SATISH KUMAR MITTAL) JUDGE October 15, 2008 ( JASWANT SINGH ) vkg JUDGE