JUDGMENT

R.C. Lahoti, J.-The appellant was elected a Councillor of Rajpura Municipal Council in January, 1998. In the month of April, 1998, he was elected as President of the Municipality. He had held the office hardly for a period of four months when he was served with a notice dated 19-8-1998 issued by the Principal Secretary, Department of Local Government, State of Punjab requiring him to show cause why he be not removed from the post of President and of member of the Municipal Council and also why he be not restrained from contesting elections of the Municipal Council for the next five years. The notice levelled three charges against the appellant. The first two charges are redundant in as much as the same have been found not substantiated and hence not acted upon. The third charge only needs to be dealt with on which alone is founded the order of removal from Presidentship which was impugned by the appellant by filing a writ petition before the High Court. Charge No. 3 is extracted from the show cause notice and reproduced hereunder:-

"3. .......the Executive Officer vide his letter No. 6416 dated 5.61998 have informed that the Municipal Council, had invited the tenders for pur