JUDGMENT

A. S. NAIDU, J. — Petitioners are the inhabitants of different villages under Purushottampur Grama Panchayat of Balasore dis¬trict. They have filed the present writ application inter alia, challenging the Notification dated 5.9. 1995 (Annexure-9) issued by the Government of Orissa, Panchayati Raj (G.P.) Department di¬recting that the office and headquarters of the Grama Sasan of Grama 'Purushottampur' in Basta Block of Balasore district consti¬tuted under the notification of the Government in Panchayati Raj (G.P.) Department No. 6881 dated the 25th March, 1992 shall be situated in village 'Purushottampur' within the limits of the said Grama.

2. The dispute has a chequered career inasmuch as, this is the third writ application filed before this Court. Bereft of all the unnecessary details, the short facts of the case are that initially under Basta Block, there was a Grama Panchayat called as 'Natakata Grama Panchayat'. The State Government taking into consideration the geographical condition as well as population growth, by Notification dated 31.12.1991 in exercise of the powers conferred by Sec. 3 read with Sec. 149 of the Orissa Grama Panchayat Act, 1964 (Orissa Act 1 of 1965) (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') bifurcated the said Natakata Grama Panchayat into two, i.e. Natakata Gram Panchayat and Purushottam¬pur Gram Panchayat. The said notification further stipulated that the headquarters of Purushottampur Gram Panchayat shall be locat¬ed at Purushottampur. It is averred in the writ application, that Purushottampur Gram Panchayat constituted of 14 villages and fixing of the headquarters at Purushottampur village, which is towards the extreme end of the Gram Panchayat became inconvenient to villagers of most of the villages. A representation was filed by the villagers before the Government, inter alia, praying to shift the headquarters of Purushottampur Grama Panchayat from village Purushottampur’ to village 'Panisapada'. The Government in Panchayati Raj Department, called for reports from the Block Development Officer and the Collector of the district. The au¬thorities after conducting inquiry at the field, intimated the Government that the village Panisapada is well communicated and centrally placed. It was further intimated that the communication facilities to village Panisapada is convenient and that there are sufficient public land available for future development of the Grama Panchayat. The Government of Orissa in Panchayati Raj (G.P.) Department after taking into consideration the reports submitted by the Block Development Officer as well as the Sub-Collector (Annexure-2) and after fulfilling all paraphernalias, in exer¬cise of powers conferred under Sub-sec. (3) of Sec. 4 of the Act issued a notification directing that the office and headquarters of Grama Sasan of Grama 'Purushottampur' in Basta Block of Balasore district constituted under the Notification of the Government in Panchayati Raj (G.P.) Department No. 6881 dated the 25th March, 1992 shall be situated in village 'Panisapada' within the limits of the said Grama. The said notification was issued on 6th November, 1993 vide Annexure-4.

3. Being aggrieved by shifting of the headquarters from village Purushottampur’ to village 'Panisapada', some of the villagers of village ‘Purushottampur’ approached this Court in OJC No. 9026 of 1993, inter alia, praying to quash the notifica¬tion dated 6.11.1993 which was annexed as Annexure-8 to the said writ application. This Court disposed of the writ application on 25.11.1993 with the following directions :

“On consideration of the submissions made, we are not in¬clined to entertain this writ application at this stage. In our view the petitioners should approach the State Government with their grievance. If the petitioners file representation before the Secretary, Panchayati Raj (G.P.) Department within one month, the said authority will consider the same and dispose it of by passing a reasoned order within t