The authority of the State Election Commissioner to decide contested matters after the election process and the requirement to raise objections during the election process itself as per the Bihar Panchayat Raj Act, 2006.

S.N.Hussain, J.

1. This writ petition has been filed for quashing order dated 13.09.2006 (annexure-1) passed by the State Election Commissioner (respondent No. 2) in Case No. 41 of 2006 by which the petitioner, who was elected as Mukhiya of Dumri Gram Panchayat (Darbhanga), has been disqualified for not attaining the age of 21 years as per the provisions of the Bihar Panchayat Raj Act, 2006 (hereinafter referred to as the Act for the sake of brevity) and directed that the said post be treated as vacant.

2. The admitted fact of this case is that election for various posts under the Act was notified by the respondents and on 27.03.2006 nomination papers were filed by the petitioner for the post of Mukhiya of Dumri Gram Panchayat (Darbhanga) which was scrutinised without any objection raised by any one. Finally, elections were held on 18.05.2006, whereafter the result was declared on 20.06.2006 and the petitioner took oath as Mukhiya on 07.07.2006 as she obtained the highest votes. Subsequently on 11.08.2006 (annexure-3), respondent No. 5, who is a voter of the said Gram Panchayat and is the husband of one of the loosing contestants for the same post, filed complaint before the Commission to winch the petitioner filed a detailed reply on 13.09.2006 (annexure-4), whereafter the impugned order was passed on 13.09.2006 itself.

3. Learned Counsel for the petitioner submitted that the Commissioner wrongly relied upon the certificates of Bihar. State Madarsa Education Board (hereinafter referred to as the Board for the sake of brevity) as in the certificate of Wastania her date of birth was shown as 21.07.1986, whereas in the certificate of Fauquania her date of birth was shown as 31.01.1986. In this connection he submitted that the said dates of birth were not given by petitioners parents in the Madarsa, rather they were wrongly given by someone which is proved by the contradictions therein and furthermore the date of birth should have been in accordance with the birth certificate Issued by the proper authority. He stated that in the said circumstances he sent a petition on 05.07.2003 (annexure-5) to the Board through the Principal of the Madarsa concerned, namely Madarsa Islamia Kusheshwar Asthan, Darbhangt, for correction of her age as per her birth certificate and also sent a reminder, but no step has been taken by the authority concerned as yet.

4. Learned Counsel for the petitioner further submitted that the birth certificate dated 20.2.1982 (annexure-6) clearly showed that her date of birth was 31.01.1982 which was verified and found genuine by the Block Development Officer, Biraul (Darbhanga) in his report dated 04.10.2006 (annexure-8). He also stated that the identity card of Election Commission dated 01.01.2002 (annexure-7), voter lists of 2000 and 2006 also proved that in 2006 the petitioner was above 21 years of age. Learned Counsel for the petitioner thus averred that the Commissioner has wrongly relied upon the certificates of the Board, although the petitioner had contested the claim of the complainant in her reply before the Commissioner and had produced reliable, relevant and valid documents in support of her claim, hence the said authority had no authority or jurisdiction to pass the impugned order.

5. On the other hand, learned Counsel for the respondent- Commission as well as learned Counsel for private respondent No. 5 vehemently opposed the contentions of the learned Counsel for the petitioner and submitted that the birth certificate, the identity card, the voter lists of 2000 and 2006 produced by the petitioner were contradictory to each other regarding her age. They further submitted that letter dated 20.9.2006 (annexure-9) sent by the Examination Controller of the Board clearly showed that no petition for correction of her date of birth was filed by the petitioner before the Board and it justified the dates given in the two birth certificates. They also averred that in Dumri Gram Panchayat the registers