1. Petitioner who was Vice President, Janpad Panchayat Gotegaon, Narsinghpur, was removed from the office under section 40 of the M.P. Panchayat Raj Evam Gram Swaraj Adhiniyam, 1993 (hereinafter referred to as "Panchayat Act") on the ground of misconduct in the discharge of his duties. Petitioner has sought following relief:

"It is, therefore, humbly prayed that this Hon'ble Court be pleased to quash the order dated 22.4.1999 passed by the Collector and order dated 18.11.1999 passed by Additional Commissioner, Jabalpur."

2. Facts in short for the decision of the case are that petitioner was elected Vice President, Janpad Panchayat Gotegaon, District Narsinghpur. A complaint was lodged before the Collector, Narsinghpur, against petitioner by R.P. Patel. Complaint was in respect of irregularities in the process of selection of Shiksha Karmi Grade III by Janpad Panchayat. The Collector on the basis of complaint found that in the selection there was interpolation in the marks allotted to the candidates and the marks of experience were not awarded as per the settled criteria. Some eligible candidates could not get appointment and some ineligible candidates were selected. Sub-Divisional Officer's report was accepted by the Collector, Narsinghpur, and it was decided to take action against the Chairman, Standing Education Samiti, Chief Executive Officer and Block Education Officer, Janpad Panchayat, Gotegaon. Order of Collector, dated 5.11.1998, is Annexure P-1.

3. The report of SDO, dated 13.10.1998, is on record as Annexure P-2 in which he has recorded different findings in detail. From the perusal of the report it appears that apart from the aforesaid irregularities, some ineligible candidates who were close relatives of members of the selection committee were also appointed. Thereafter, a show cause notice dated 24.3.1999 (Annexure P-3) was issued to the petitioner to show cause why on the ground of misconduct stated in the notice, he be not removed from the office of Vice President, stated in the notice, he be not removed from the office of Vice-President Janpad Panchayat, Gotegaon. The ground stated in the notice are as under:

(a) Smt. Mamta Patel who was Shiksha Karmi in last three educational sessions was not awarded marks of experience.

(b) Application of Rekha Rajput was not registered in inward register of Janpad Panchayat.

(c) Shri Anil Kumar Chouksey was also Shiksha Karmi in last three educational sessions but he was not awarded marks of experience and in the tabulation sheet, his experience has been shown as nil while he was entitled for marks of experience.

(d) Alka Rajput was having no experience but she has enclosed experience certificate which does not fall within the purview of experience certificate.

(e) Anita Gupta was not eligible for the appointment as she got only 52.06 points while cut off point of general candidate was 53.70.

(f) Asraf Khan was also much below the cut of point but he was selected.

(g) Shri J.P. Koshti was Block Education Officer and Smt. Chandrakanta Pathak was member of interview committee. Two daughters of Shri J.P. Koshti namely Ku. Shrutibala Koshti and Ku. Rachna Koshti were selected and Ashwani Pathak son of Smt.

Chandrakanta Pathak was selected. Apart from this, there was serious interpolation in the interview sheet in respect of marks awarded to Komal Singh Gond and Kishoribai Neekhra. (h) The selection committee was not constituted as per Gazette notification dated 1.1.1998 and the members of the committee have selected their own children. They have also awarded marks to them in the interview.

(i) In Janpad Panchayat, Gotegaon, previous selection of Shiksha Karmi Grade III was cancelled and the matter was reprocessed but the same was also found defective.

On the aforesaid grounds, the Collector found that the entire selection on both occasions was defective. Petitioner being the Chairman of the selection committee has remained grossly negligent in the discharge of his duties and has perm