2013 Supreme(P&H) 591

IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA
[DIVISION BENCH]
Before
The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Jasbir Singh
The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain
CWP No.8290 of 2013
Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee
v.
State of Punjab & Ors.
{Decided on 13/06/2013}

Headnote:Panchayati Raj--Formation of wards in Gram Sabha--Certain directions issued.

       Panchayati Raj--Formation of wards in Gram Sabha--Wardbandi--S.10 and S.10-A are constitutionally valid.

       Panchayati Raj--Formation of wards in Gram Sabha--Contention that the wards have not been formulated on the basis of geographical contiguity as no house numbers have been shown in the notification of the proposed Wardbandi--Rejected.

       (A) Punjab Panchayati Raj Act, 1994, Ss.10 & 10-A--Formation of wards in Gram Sabha--Wardbandi--S.10 and S.10-A are constitutionally valid.

       (B) Punjab Panchayati Raj Act, 1994, Ss.10 & 10-A--Formation of wards in Gram Sabha--Contention that the wards have not been formulated on the basis of geographical contiguity as no house numbers have been shown in the notification of the proposed Wardbandi--Rejected--Held; It is not possible to maintain the exact contiguity because some house are located in the farms/dhanis which are placed at a distance from the last houses of the proposed ward, but in order to give them a representation in the Panchayat, those houses are also required to be included and in that process the geographical contiguity is generally broken. (Paras 6 & 16)

       (C) Punjab Panchayati Raj Act, 1994, Ss.10 & 10-A--Formation of wards in Gram Sabha--Contention that the power of deciding objections given to the Deputy Commissioners is not proper because being an Executive Officer, they could always succumb to the pressure of the ruling party while deciding the objections--Rejected--Held; No allegations in the pleadings that the Deputy Commissioner, while exercising his executive powers in deciding the objections filed by any voter with regard to formation of wards, has acted unfairly much-less under the influence of the ruling party. (Paras 8 & 18)

       (D) Punjab Panchayati Raj Act, 1994, Ss.10 & 10-A--Formation of wards in Gram Sabha--Objection neither the notification nor its substance was duly affixed at the place as mentioned in Section 10(1-C) of the Amendment Act.--Rejected--Held; Due publication was given in various newspapers and as many as 6231 objections were received, out of which 2922 were allowed and 3309 were dismissed--This figure indicates that the proposal of formation of wards was very well within the knowledge of the voters who had exercised their statutory right and out of the total objections filed, half of the objectors were successful. (Para 19)

       (E) Punjab Panchayati Raj Act, 1994, Ss.10 & 10-A--Formation of wards in Gram Sabha--Certain directions issued--

       1. The government should undertake an exercise of allotting the house members to all the houses in all the villages of the State of Punjab--The Panchayat Secretary of the Gram Panchayat concerned shall maintain the record of the house numbers and keep on updating the same in case of any change in the house number occurred for any reason--Let this exercise be started after the elections and be completed within a period of one year and the status report be put up on the file of this case.

       2. The exercise of delimitation of wards for the purpose of election of the Gram Panchayats, Panchayat Samities and Zila Parishads shall be undertaken with wide publicity in the electronic and print media well before the exercise is started.

       3. The notification of the proposed wardbandi or its substance should not only allowed to be pasted/affixed in terms of the provisions of the statute but should also be accompanied by a coloured site plan showing formation of separate wards so that the appropriate opportunity could be availed of by the voters for the purpose of filing objections.

       4. The Deputy Commissioner or the Competent Authority, who has to decide the objections, shall decide the objections by passing a well reasoned order reflecting his/her application of mind.

       5. We also request the State of Punjab to enhance the period of filing the objections which is at present only 7 days from the date of proposal because after the decision of the Deputy Commissioner, 90 days period has been fixed for the purpose of publication of final notification. (Para 30)