( 1 ) THIS is a petition by two allegedly vigilant members of the respondent no. 1-District Panchayat. They have filed this petition for the relief of issuance of a writ directing the respondents nos. 1 and 2 to follow the procedure laid in sec. 131 (5) (d) of the Gujarat Panchayats Act and to determine in which committees the respondents nos. 2 to 9 are to retain their seats and further to hold the election for the Committees in which their seats become vacant by virtue of the provisions of sec. 131 (5) (a) of the said Act.

( 2 ) IN order to understand the controversy the provisions of sec. 131 of the Gujarat Panchayats Act are required to be referred to. Under sec. 13 (1) the District Panchayat is required to constitute the Committees namely an Executive Committee; A social Justice Committee; An Education Committee; A Production and Cooperation Committee; A Public Health Committee; An Appeal Committee and a Finance Review Committee. Under sub-sec. (2) a provision is made enabling the District Panchayat to constitute one or more committees to execute any work or scheme decided upon by the District Panchayat or to inquire into and report to the District Panchayat on matters which the panchayat may refer to such Committee or committees. Then sub-sec. (5) which is material for our purposes reads as follows:" (5) (A ). No member of the panchayat shall be a member of more than two committees constituted under this section. (Emphasis supplied) (B) If any member is simultaneously or otherwise elected as a member of more than two committees the member shall within ten days from the date or the later of the dates on which he is so elected intimate to the President two of the committees in which he wishes to serve and thereupon his seat in the committee or committees other than the aforesaid two committees shall become vacant; (C) Any intimation given under clause (b) shall be final and irrevocable; (E) Where a member commits default in giving intimation under clause (b) within the period prescribed therein the Panchayat shall determine the two committees In which such member shall retain his seat and thereupon his seat in the committees other than the committees so determined shall become vacant". AT Annexure A to this petition is given the details of the respondents nos. 2 to 9 functioning in more than two Committees. It is the contention of the petitioners that these respondents were duty bound to elect from the date of their appointment to the third or the fourth committee as to in which committees they will continue to have their membership and if they failed to do so within 10 days the matter had to go to the Panchayat to decide as to in what committee they shall retain their seats and from which committees they shall be deemed to have vacated their seats. Nothing of the sort having been done either by the respondents nos. 2 to 9 or the respondent no. 1 District Panchayat the petitioners filed this petition in the month of April 1984 to be exact on 11-4-84.

( 3 ) THE petition is heard today. A preliminary objection was raised by Mr. Vakharia appearing for the respondent No. 1 that the petition was liable to be summarily rejected on the ground of gross delay in the facts and circumstances of the case. Inviting my pointed attention to Annexure A at page 14 of the petition and particularly the dates in respect of third and fourth committees to which some of these respondents are made. . members. Mr. Vakharia urged that if the petitioners claimed to be vigilant and interested in the implementation of the legal provision they should have come to this court at the earliest possible moment. I do not think that four oil five months delay is of any significant consequence. As a matter of fact under the law quoted above it is the initial duty of the members elected to more than two Committees to come forth voluntarily and retire from the Committees on which they cannot serve as members. If they did not do so they arose the d