JUDGMENT

Sudhir Mittal, J. (Oral) - The petitioner is the Sarpanch of village Saidoke, Tehsil Nihal Singh Wala, District Moga. The Panchayat of the said village comprises 01 Sarpanch and 11 Panches. Out of 11 Panches, a total of 06 Panches were earlier supporting the Sarpanch and 05 Panches were in opposition. After the recent change of Government in the State of Punjab, one of the Panches aligned with the Sarpanch, namely, Smt. Sukhpreet Kaur shifted allegiance in favour of the opposing 05 Panches and thus, a total of 06 Panches comprised the opposing camp. They were allegedly not permitting the Gram Panchayat to function as they were not attending the meetings regularly. Even, in the meetings attended by them, they opposed the resolution proposed to be passed. Thus, the petitioner submitted a complaint dated 04.05.2022 (Annexure P-4) before the Director, Rural Development & Panchayat Department for taking appropriate action against the 06 Panches in the opposing camp, but nothing was done. Instead, vide order dated 12.05.2022, an Administrator was appointed and thus, the present writ petition has been filed.

2. Learned counsel for the petitioner has argued that Section 200 of the P