The main legal point established in the judgment is the interpretation and application of Section 26 of the Orissa Grama Panchayats Act, 1964, regarding disqualification and election disputes.

JUDGMENT :

B.N. Mahapatra, J. - In this appeal, the Appellant has challenged legality of the judgment dated 22.03.2010 passed by a learned Single Judge of this Court in W.P.(C) No. 13386 of 2007 upholding the order dated 12.10.2007 of the Collector, Bolangir wherein the Collector declared the writ Appellant disqualified to hold the office of Sarpanch, Badibahal G.P. under Loisingha Panchayat Samiti in the district of Bolangir on the ground that the same has been passed without appreciating the facts of the case in its proper perspective and without taking into consideration several decisions cited by the Appellant in support of her case and the fact that her 4th son, Suman Seth was born on 03.12.1994 before the cut off date, i.e., 21.04.1995.

2. Bereft of unnecessary details, the facts and circumstances giving rise to the present appeal are that the election to the office of Sarpanch, Badibahal G.P. under Loisingha Panchayat Samiti in the district of Bolangir was held on 13.02.2007 in which the present Appellant and two others, namely, Smt. Chinmayee Naik and Smt. Labanyabati Bag were also candidates. In the said election Smt. Chinmayee Naik and Smt. Labanyabati Bag were defeated. Thereafter their husbands filed a complaint before the Collector, Bolangir against the writ Appellant to disqualify her to continue as Sarpanch on the ground that she has five children, two of whom are said to have been born after the relevant cut off date, i.e., 21.04.1995. On receipt of the complaint, a show cause notice was issued from the office of the Collector, Bolangir to the opp. party-Appellant, who in response to it, filed a show cause reply denying the allegation made against her. On her denial, the matter was enquired into by the Collector who found that Suman Seth, the 4th child of the Appellant was born on 03.07.1997 and Susanta Seth, the 5th one was born on 30.10.2002. As both 4th and the 5th sons were born after the cut off date, the Collector, Bolangir declared the Appellant disqualified to hold the office of Sarpanch of Badibahal Grama Panchayat under Loisingha Panchayat Samiti.

3. Challenging the said order, the writ Appellant filed writ petition bearing W.P.(C). No. 13386 of 2007 before this Court. Before the learned Single Judge, the Appellant-Petitioner raised contentions; the first ground was that the petition filed before the Collector was not maintainable as the same was filed by husbands of the defeated candidates. Secondly, the writ Appellant's 4th child-Suman Seth was born before the cut off date. Therefore, she should not have been disqualified in the election. Learned Single Judge dismissed the said writ petition holding that it can be safely said that the Appellant-Petitioner begot at least one child after the cut off date. Hence, the present Writ Appeal.

4. Mr. Biswajit Pasayat, learned Counsel appearing for the writ Appellant vehemently argued that the order passed by the learned Single Judge is illegal and not sustainable in the eye of law. The specific stand taken before the learned Single Judge was that u/s 26 of the Orissa Grama Panchayats Act, 1964 the defeated candidate has No. locus standi to contest proceeding under the said Section before the Collector, Bolangir. Only course open for the defeated candidate was to file election dispute before the Civil Judge to challenge the election of the elected candidate. Therefore, the complaint petition filed by the husbands of the defeated candidates before the Collector is not maintainable. Though this ground taken before the learned Single Judge, he has not considered the same. No. reasonable opportunity of hearing was afforded to the Appellant before declaring her disqualified. He further submitted that since the only dispute before the learned Single Judge was about the date of birth of the last child of the Appellant, the learned Single Judge should have remanded the case to the Collector by directing him to pass appropriate order after conducting proper inquiry and gi