By the Court.—The present appeal has been filed against the judgment and order dated 8.1.2010 passed by the learned single Judge In Writ Petition No. 64313 of 2009, Farida v. State of U.P. and others.

2. Briefly stated, the facts giving rise to the present appeal are as follows:

In Gram Panchayat Shahbazpur Kalan Vijai Rampur, Post Sharif Nagar, Tehsil Thakurdwara, Moradabad, election for the post of Pradhan was held along with the Members wherein one Smt. Parul Chaudhary was elected as Pradhan. However, on account of some subsequent development, Smt. Parul Chaudhary decided to tender her resignation which was accepted by the competent authority on 12.10.2009, giving rise to a substantive vacancy of the office of Pradhan.

3. It may be mentioned here that In the said Gram Panchayat, there is no elected Up-Gram Pradhan. There are eleven elected Members and two nominated Members of the Gram Panchayat. The question arose as to who should be nominated on the post of Gram Pradhan. According to the petitioner Farida, who Is presently arrayed as Respondent No. 5 in the present appeal, as the post of Gram Pradhan in question was reserved for a female category candidate, it was unanimou