The court upheld the Haryana Municipal (Amendment) Act, 2018, affirming the State Election Commission's authority to remove elected officials for disqualifications, aligning with legislative competence and constitutional provisions.

JUDGMENT :

Sureshwar Thakur, J.

Through the instant writ petition, the petitioner herein prays for the issuance of a writ of Certiorari for declaring null, void and ultra vires the Haryana Municipal (Amendment) Act, 2018 (Annexure P-6) dated 19.04.2018 and the notification No.Leg.34/2019 dated 04.09.2019 publishing Haryana Act No.33 of 2019, which has amended the Haryana Municipal (Second Amendment) Act, 2019 (Annexure P-7), to the extent, that the provisions of Section 13I have been untenably inserted/substituted in the Principal Act of 1973, wherebys the State Election Commission has been untenably empowered to remove the President or Member(s), thus on account of theirs respectively incurring any statutory disqualification. The petitioner further prays for setting aside the Show Cause Notice dated 21.11.2022 (Annexure P-2) issued by the State Election Commission to the petitioner, who is the elected President of Municipal Committee, Assandh, whereby the petitioner has been asked to show cause against the initiation of action under impugned Section 13I of the Haryana Municipal Act, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act of 1973’), provisions whereof becomes extracted hereinafter.

“13I. Removal of an elected member having any disqualification at time of election.- The State Election Commission may, after such enquiry, as it may deem fit and after giving an opportunity of being heard, by order, remove a member, if he was having any disqualification mentioned in Section 13A or rules framed under this Act at the time of his election. The office of the member so disqualified shall become vacant immediately.”

Factual Background

2. The State Election Commission, Haryana, vide notification No. SEC/1ME/2022/1481 dated 23.05.2022, issued a programme for conducting general elections for the post of President and Members of all wards of 28 Municipal Committees and 18 Municipal Councils in the State including the Municipal Committee, Assandh, District Karnal. The seat of the President of Municipal Committee, Assandh, was reserved for Scheduled Caste (Male) Category, as such, the petitioner contested the election to the said seat. The elections for the said municipal committee was conducted on 19.06.2022 and the result was declared on 22.06.2022 whereby the petitioner was declared as the winner by a margin of 553 votes.

3. Thereafter, Ms. Sonia Bohat daughter of Sh Bhagat Singh, Sh. Princepal Singh son of Sh Devender Singh and Sh. Rajiv son of Lichman, all residents of Assandh, Karnal, vide complaints respectively dated 27.06.2022 and 12.07.2022, have filed false and frivolous complaints against the petitioner alleging therein, that the petitioner, at the time of filing of nomination, had attached invalid matriculation certificate issued by ‘Uttar Pradesh State Open School Board’ especially when the said Board is not available in the list of equivalence issued by the Board of Education Haryana, Bhiwani. On the said basis, it has been alleged that the petitioner suffers from a disqualification, as contemplated under Section 13A (1)(h) of the Act of 1973 and also under Rule 21(1)(p) of the Haryana Municipal Election Rules, 1978 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Rules of 1978’). Resultantly, the petitioner was served with a show cause notice dated 21.11.2022 (Annexure P-2) by the State Election Commissioner, exercising the powers under Section 13I of the Act of 1973, and he was directed to give reply till 12.12.2022, to the aforementioned allegations. Consequently, acting upon the said show cause notice, the petitioner gave a comprehensive reply on 05.12.2022.

4. The complainants had also approached this Court vide CWP No.16125 of 2022 titled “Soniya Bohat versus State of Haryana and Others” which was disposed of vide order dated 28.07.2022 (Annexure P-4) with directions to conclude the inquiry with respect to the genuineness of the 10th standard certificate but within a period of 08 weeks. Accordingly, the Deputy Commissioner, Karnal, vide