JUDGMENT :

Ramesh Ranganathan, J.

The Uttarakhand Panchayati Raj Act, 2016 was amended by the Utrarakhand Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Act, 2019 (Act No. 10 of 2019) (for short the “2019 Act”), after the current five year term of the elected members of the Panchayat Raj Institutions, in the State of Uttarakhand, came to an end on 15.07.2019. In this batch of Writ Petitions, the constitutional validity of Section 8(1)(r), Section 8(8)(1)(d) and Section 10-C of the Uttarakhand Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Act, 2019, as notified on 25.07.2019, are under challenge.

2. Section 8(1)(r), as inserted by the 2019 Act, stipulated that a person shall be disqualified for being appointed, and for being a Pradhan, Up-Pradhan and a member of the Gram Panchayat, if he has more than two living children. The newly inserted Sub-Section (8) prescribes a further bar on holding two posts simultaneously and, under Sub-Section (1)(d) of Section 8(8) of the 2019 Act, a person shall be disqualified for holding the office of a Pradhan, Up-Pradhan or a Member of the Gram Panchayat if he is the Chairman, Vice-Chairman or a Member of any Cooperative Society.

3. Section 10-C, which was also inserted by the 2019 Act, rel