ORDER :

The petitioner calls in question the order dated 30-10-2021 passed by the 2nd respondent and the foundational order dated 05-04-2021 passed by the 3rd respondent/Regional Commissioner, Department of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, whereby the petitioner is removed from the post of Adyaksha of Bagaluru Gram Panchayat.

2. Brief facts leading to the filing of the present petition, as borne out from the pleadings are, as follows:

The petitioner is an elected representative/Member of Bagaluru Gram Panchayat, Jala Hobli, Bangalore North Taluk. It is the claim of the petitioner that he was working in the said Panchayat since 2000 and pursuant to an election held during 2016-17 the petitioner was again elected to the said Panchayat as its Member and thereafter elected as President of the Bagaluru Gram Panchayat. The petitioner began to discharge his duties as President of Bagaluru Gram Panchayat with effect from 19-12-2016. It is the claim of the petitioner that after he assumed charge as President of the Panchayat, several Panchayat Development Officers were appointed during his tenure and were transferred also. During the tenure of Sri Ramesh as Panchayat Development Officer (‘PDO’ for short) one contractor by name Venkatesh sought permission from the hands of the petitioner for laying Optic Fiber Cables (‘OFC’) of Jio Company (‘Company’ for short). The permission was accorded by the Gram Panchayat and in terms of the said permission, the said contractor i.e., Venkatesh executed the said contract by laying OFC in Bagaluru Gram Panchayat. During the tenure of Mr. Ramesh who was the PDO a demand notice was issued to the Company demanding tax of Rs.47,40,000/- but the said tax was not paid by the contractor of the Company. The said PDO later was transferred and the incumbent by name Smt. Annapurneshwari was deputed as PDO to the said place.

3. At that juncture, the petitioner along with the incumbent PDO inspected the works carried out under the jurisdiction of the Panchayat as also laying down of OFC in the precincts of the Panchayat. During the inspection and on enquiry it is the claim of the petitioner that he comes to know that the Company was carrying out laying of OFC without paying requisite tax despite the demand notice issued to the Reliance Jio Infocom Limited. Again a notice demanding a sum of Rs.12,60,000/- was issued for carrying further works within the limits of the Panchayat. This resulted in a complaint being registered before the Deputy Commissioner of Police on 8.02.2020 by the PDO Smt. Annapurneshwari wherein the PDO had alleged that she had issued a demand notice to Jio Digital Fiber Private Limited directing it to pay Rs.12,60,000/- and the said notice was personally received by two contractors and also alleged that the said contractors had handed over the demand draft for a sum of Rs.12,60,000/- to the petitioner and also alleged that the petitioner had also confirmed that the demand draft was with him and required some corrections and that he would hand over the same to the complainant in due course.

4. It is alleged that the complainant later came to know that the demand draft was deposited in HDFC Bank at Sanjaynagar Branch, Bangalore where the Gram Panchayat did not have any account and on that score the ultimate allegation was that the petitioner has misutilized or misappropriated the funds belonging to the Panchayat. A FIR came to be registered against unknown persons in Crime No.32 of 2020 for the offence punishable under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code. On registration of the crime, the Chief Executive Officer of the Zilla Panchayat communicates to the PDO seeking furnishing of entire account details to an Audit Committee that was constituted to go into the allegations. It is, thereafter, the Chief Executive Officer communicates to the Competent Authority on 09-09-2020 to take appropriate action against the petitioner in terms of Section 48 of the Karnataka Gram Swaraj and Panchayat Raj Act,