Wanchoo, C.J.—This is an application by Rangraj and seven others under Art. 226 of the Constitution of India for a writ of mandamus and prohibition against the gram panchayat Khinwel through its sarpanch Chunni-lal. The State of Rajasthan has also been made a party to the application.

2. It is unnecessary to give in detail all the points raised in the application and we propose to confine ourselves to the main argument on behalf of the applicants based on sec. 4 of the Marwar Village Panchayats Act, 1945. That argument is that the panchayat which is functioning in village Khinwel and has imposed certain taxes since January 1950 is not a properly constituted body, as no notification under sec. 4 of the Act was ever issued establishing a panchayat in that village. The Marwar Village Panchayats Act, 1945 came into force on the 1st of January 1946. Sec. 4 of that Act reads as follows: —

"The Minister in Charge may, by notification in the Jodhpur Government Gazette, establish a panchayat in any village or any group of villages not included within the limits of a Municipality."

3. The case of the applicants is that no notification under sec. 4 has ever been issued establishing a panchayat in village Khinwel and, therefore, the body which is acting as a panchayat in that village has no legal sanction and cannot function as such. It has been admitted by the opposite parties that no such notification as required under sec. 4 of the Act was ever issued by the Minister-in-Charge; nor has any such notification been brought to our notice by the opposite parties. After this admission, it is clear that no body of persons can set themselves up as a village panchayat in village Khinwel and arrogate to themselves the powers which are conferred on a village panchayat by this Act. A notification under sec. 4 is, in our opinion, the foundation for the coming into existence of a panchayat in a village and where no such notification has been made, no panchayat under the Act can function in any village. In the present case, as no such notification was ever made, the body which calls itself the panchayat of village Khinwel has no legal existence and cannot impose any taxes or perform any functions conferred on a panchayat by this Act. In this view of the matter, the applicants are entitled to an order prohibiting this body which calls itself as the panchayat of Khinwel from imposing any taxes or exercising any powers under the Marwar Village Panchayats Act, 1945.

4. Learned counsel for the State, however, urges that this Court should not issue an order or direction under Art. 226 of the Constitution because there are other remedies available to the applicant. Our attention was drawn in this connection to secs. 59, 60 and 67 of the Act. Under sec. 59, the Collector can by written order suspend the execution of any resolution or order of a panchayat other than an order passed in judicial proceedings or prohibit the doing of any act which is about to be done or is being done under the covering of the Act. Learned counsel for the State urges that the applicants should have proceeded under this section. It appears that the applicants did " approach the Collector against the order imposing certain taxes on them and ordering them to pay the amount of taxes. It further appears that the Sub-Divisional Officer and the Collector refused to Act under sec. 59 & the order of the panchayat imposing the tax on the applicants still stands.

5. As to sec. 60, it provides that the Minister-in-Charge may suspend or abolish the panchayat if in his opinion it is incompetent to perform or persistently makes default in the performance of the duties imposed on it, or exceeds or abuses its powers or should there be any reason which in the opinion of the Minister-in-Charge necessitates the suspension or abolition of a panchayat. The applicants have not approached the Minister-in-Charge with a prayer for the abolition of the panchayat on the ground that no notification under sec. 4 of

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