Judgment

Mr. Harpreet Singh Brar, J.

The petitioner has filed the instant petition for issuance of a writ in the nature of mandamus directing the official respondents to reject the nomination papers of respondent No.7-Poonam Devi in view of instructions issued for Panchayat Election (Annexure P-1), on the ground that she is not eligible for contesting the election for the post of Panch. Further prayer has been made for directing the respondents to decide the representation dated 30.06.2023 (Annexure P-3) stated to be pending in the office of respondent No.2.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

2. Briefly, the facts of the case are that petitioner is a resident of Gram Panchayat Nanagwas, Block Mahendergarh, District Mahendergarh and election for the post of Panch were scheduled to be held on 09.07.2023. Respondent No.7-Poonam Devi filed her nomination papers for the post of Panch of Ward No.4 of the said village by concealing the material fact that she is a defaulter of house tax for the last 11 years. A detailed representation has been submitted by the petitioner in the office of respondent No.2 in this context but no action has been taken thereon as yet. The inaction of the respondents in this regard itself is in violation of respondents’ instructions as stipulated in Section 175 of the Haryana Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 (in short ‘the Act’).

CONTENTIONS

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner contends that as per the instructions issued for the Panchayat Elections for the year 2022, the respondent No.7-Poonam Devi is not eligible to contest the elections for the post of Panch of Village Nanagwas as she is in the arrears of House Tax. He has referred to Annexure P-1 in which the instruction No.10 provides that any person desiring to contest the Panchayat Election should not be defaulter of Panchayat. He further referred to the certificate issued by the Sarpanch of the Gram Panchayat Nanagwas (Annexure P-2) regarding the default in payment of House Tax. He further contends that the nomination papers of respondent No.7-Poonam Devi are liable to be rejected and he has filed a representation on 30.06.2023 in the office of respondent No.2 (Deputy Commissioner, Mahendergarh) with regard to the concealment made by respondent No.7 at the time of filing her nomination papers.

4. The learned counsel for the petitioner further contends that a perusal of Annexure P-2 shows that Mahipal Singh son of Mam Chand is in the arrears of Rs.330/- towards the House Tax for the last eleven years as per the House Tax Register 2023-24. Mahipal Singh is the father-in-law of respondent No.7-Poonam Devi and she is living in the same house, as such, she is also to be treated as a defaulter and as per the instruction issued by the Returning Officer, her nomination papers ought to have been rejected.

5. Having heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and perused the record, we find that before adverting to the facts of the case, this Court is required to adjudicate the elemental issue of maintainability of the instant writ petition in the light of the bar contained in Article 243-O of the Constitution of India read with provisions contained in Section 176 of the Act providing alternative remedy.

6. Undisputedly, a notification for the Panchayat Elections has already been issued, setting into motion the election process and as per the schedule, the date for filing nomination was fixed from 21.06.2023 to 26.06.2023. The date for scrutiny was fixed for 27.06.2023 and the date for allotment o