Ravindra V. Ghuge, J.

Rule.

2. Rule made returnable forth-with and heard finally by the consent of the parties.

3. The issue raised in this petition by the disqualified Sarpanch is, as to whether the mandate of holding a monthly meeting of the village panchayat is cast on the Sarpanch under section 36 of the Maharashtra Village Panchayat Act or the responsibility is cast upon the Village Development Officer, who is commonly known as the Secretary under Rules 4, 5 and 6 of the Bombay Village Panchayat (Meeting) Rules, 1959.

4. The petitioner was elected as the Member of the Grampanchayat Savargaon (Dere), Tq. Bhoom, District: Osmanabad, in 2015. Since the post of Sarpanch for the said Panchayat was reserved for the OBC category and the petitioner was the only candidate who belonged to the said category, she was elected as the Sarpanch, unopposed.

5. The Upasarpanch lodged a complaint with the District Collector, that the petitioner did not convene the Grampanchayat monthly meetings for the months of August and November, 2017. By the Impugned order dated 20.8.2018, passed by the District Collector, the petitioner has been disqualified.

6. The contention of the petitioner Sarpanch