1. This petition is the result of an extremely unfortunate controversy between Kannad speaking and Marathi speaking members of the Village Panchayat of Sankeshwar which is situated in Hukeri Taluka in the Belgaum District. It appears that the record of this Panchayat used to be; kept in Marathi language. On the 15th May 1954, the Panchayat passed a resolution that the record should be kept in Kannad language. The Panchayat consists of 15 members, 11 of whom are Kannad speaking members and 4 are Marathi speaking members and the Sarpanch also happens to be a Marathi speaking member. On the 24th June 1954, the Collector suspended the execution of this resolution, acting under Section 99 (1) of the Bombay Village Panchayats Act. An appeal was preferred to the Director of Local Authorities and he set aside the order of the Collector on the 15th July 1954, and directed that the resolution passed by the Panchayat should remain effective with the modification that bills and notices issued to members of the public should be in both the languages, Marathi and Kannad. On the 7th August 1954, the Government acting under Section 107(2) rescinded the order of the Director of Local Auth