The Government has jurisdiction to entertain the revision petition filed by the Sarpanch of Velangi Gram Panchayat under Section 232 of the Act.

P. A. CHOWDARY, J.

( 1 ) THIS writ appeal by the writ petitioner is against an order of dismissal passed by our learned brother Ramachandra Rao J. The writ petition was filed for the issuance of a writ of prohibition forbidding the State of Andhra Pradesh from proceeding with a revision petition filed by one P. Venkata Rao, (third respondent herein) Sarpanch of Velangi Gram Panchayat, against a written communication of the Divisional Panchayat Officer, Kakinada , dated 22-5-1979 holding that the aforesaid Sarpanch of Velangi having suffered a disqualification under Section 25 clause (2) of the Andhra Pradesh Gram Panchayats Act, 1964 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) ceased to be the Sarpanch of the Valangi Gram Panchayat with effect from 3-5-79.

( 2 ) THE prodigious litigation in our Courts on Gram Panchayat matters attests to the social fact of a near complete fragmentation of our rural life which is probably due to the paucity of sufficient opportunities for creative employment. Court actions of Panchayat matters are by far too many and the amount of money expended and the time spent on them is wholly disproportionately large to the public good promoted by this wasteful litigation.

( 3 ) THE third respondent elected as a Sarpanch of the Velangi Gram Panchayat in the year 1970 for a term of five-years, in continuing to be in office by operation of law enacted from time to time which is unwilling to hold Panchayat elections. Now during the extended period of the third respondents tenure of office, the State Legislature enacted Act No. 46 of 1976 amending clause (2) of Section 25 and adding clause (3) of Section 25 of the Act. It is the interpretation of these provisions of the amended law which is the concern of the present writ appeal.

( 4 ) THE Divisional Panchayat Officer, Kakinada, by his communications dated 22-5-79 held the third respondent to have ceased to be the Sarpanch with effect from 3-5-1979 and also to have suffered a disqualification for being elected as Sarpanch for the reason that he had failed to convene a meeting of the Gram Sabha within 180 days. Against the communication of the Divisional Panchayat Officer, Kakinada, the third respondent preferred a revision petition to the Government under Section 232 of the Act. The Government entertained that revision and passed an order on 10-7-1979 keeping in abeyance the aforesaid proceedings of the Divisional Panchayat Officer, Kakinada. The legal effect of that governmental order is of course to keep the third respondent in office, a consequence which can neither be countenanced nor tolerated by the writ petitioner. A writ petition out of which the present appeal arises was therefore filed by the upasarpanch for the issuance of a writ of prohibition restraining the Government of Andhra Pradesh from proceeding with the enquiry into the revision petition filed by the third respondent. The short-ground of the writ appellant is that after the enactment of the aforesaid Act No. 46 of 1976, the Government has lost its revisional powers and jurisdiction undoubtedly hitherto enjoyed by it under Sec. 232 of the Act. The appellant therefore asks this court to prohibit the Government from entertaining the third respondents revision.

( 5 ) IN order to appreciate the argument of the appellant it is necessary to sketch the story of the relevant Legislation. Section 25 clause (2) of the Act, before its amendment by Act No. 46 of 1976, declared it to be the duty of a Sarpanch to convene a meeting of a Gram Panchayat so that at least one meeting of the Gram Panchayat is held in every month. Now the aforesaid Act No. 46 of 1976 had added one more duty to the above by declaring that the Sarpanch should also hold at least one meeting of the Gram Sabha within a period of one hundred eighty days from the time of the last meeting. The law relating to penalty both before and after the above amendment remains the same. It provides for the automatic incurring of penalties by the Sarpan

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