1. This is a writ petition in an election matter under the Rajasthan Panchayat Act. The petitioner, Dhanna, is a villager and was elected as Sarpanch of the village panchayat in the year 1978. He functioned as Sarpanch of the village Panchayat, Gangyasar till the next election which took place in December, 1981.

2. On 14th December, 1981, the petitioner was again elected for the same post of Sarpanch. The non-petitioner Ram Niwas, filed an election petition challenging the election of the petitioner on the various grounds. One of the grounds which ultimately weighed with the election Tribunal and which was accepted, was that he is not qualified to become Sarpanch because he is not able to read and write Hindi as required by Section 13(1) of the Rajasthan Panchayat Act, 1953 (hereinafter referred to as the Act). Issue no. 1 which is relevant for the purpose of writ petition reads as under :

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Both the parties examined evidence in support of their respective contentions on issue no. 1. Ramniwas examined himself, Ratanaram as PW3, Rameshwar PW4. The present p