JUDGMENT :

RAVINDRA V. GHUGE, J.

1. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith and heard finally by the consent of the parties.

2. These identically placed Petitioners seek to challenge the order dated 17.04.2018, passed by the District Collector, Ahmednagar, by which, the Petitioners have been disqualified under Section 14B(1) of the Maharashtra Village Panchayats Act for having failed in submitting the accounts of election expenses. The Petitioners are also aggrieved by the order dated 10.12.2019 delivered by the Divisional Commissioner, Nashik, by which, the Appeals preferred by the Petitioners, have been rejected and the disqualification for a period of five years, has been sustained.

3. Having considered the strenuous submissions of the learned Advocates for the respective sides, I find it apposite to record the sequence of events as under:-

(a) These Petitioners have tendered their nomination forms for contesting elections to the village Panchayat, Parewadi, Taluka Pathardi, District Ahmednagar, on 04.08.2015.

(b) At the time of scrutiny of the nomination forms, there were only seven nomination forms and all of them were found to be valid.

(c) As there were only seven positions to the Membership of Village Panchayat Parewadi, there was no contest between the aspiring candidates and all of them, therefore, were declared elected unopposed on 06.08.2015.

(d) They all failed to tender their accounts of election expenses.

(e) These Petitioners have made a two-fold submission. Firstly, that they are not required to tender their accounts of election expenses under Section 14B(1) as they have been elected unopposed. Secondly, they claimed that they tendered their accounts of election expenses on the date on which they filed their nomination forms, with the returning Officer.

(f) On 20.11.2015, the District Collector, Ahmednagar initiated proceedings for disqualification of the candidates, who have not tendered their accounts of election expenses within 30 days from the date of the official declaration of the election results.

(g) All these Petitioners were initially disqualified by the first order passed by the District Collector dated 14.07.2016 for a period of five years.

(h) These Petitioners approached the Divisional Commissioner, Nashik by filing their individual Appeals. By orders dated 28.02.2017, their Appeals were allowed, the order of disqualification passed by the District Collector was set aside and the matter was remitted to the District Collector for a re-hearing.

(i) These Petitioners then once again tendered their accounts of election expenses on 19th July 2017 alongwith specific affidavits.

(j) The Tahsildar Pathardi, tendered his report in each of these cases contending that none of these Petitioners had submitted their accounts of election expenses at the time of the filing of their nomination forms and there is no official record to indicate that these Petitioners had done so.

(k) These Petitioners canvassed before the District Collector that as they are elected unopposed, there is no necessity to file accounts of election expenses since they had incurred expenses only for the preparation of their nomination forms.

(l) In the alternative, they contended that they have filed their accounts of elections expenses alongwith proper affidavits again on 19.07.2017.

(m) By the impugned order dated 17.04.2018, the District Collector concluded that these Petitioners had violated Section 14B(1) and, therefore, deserve to be disqualified.

(n) By the impugned order dated 10.12.2019, the Divisional Commissioner concluded that as there is no evidence of these Petitioners having tendered their accounts at the time of the filing of the nomination forms, the conclusions drawn by the District Collector are sound and proper.

4. The issue, therefore, raised in these Petitions is that a candidate elected unopposed, is not required to tender the accounts of election expenses since he has not incurred any expenditure. In the alternative, these Petitioners h