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2021 Supreme(Online)(Gau) 407
TRIPURA HIGH COURT
Benumadhab Chakraborty, J
Shri Ranjit Sinha – Appellant
Versus
Block Development Officer, Chandipur R.D.Block, Unakoti Tripura – Respondent
W.P.(C) No.1351 of 2019 | W.P.(C) No.1352 of 2019 | W.P.(C) No.1353 of 2019
For the Appellants/Petitioners: Mr. P.Roy Barman, Mr. S.Bhattacharjee, Mr. K.Nath
For the Respondents: Mr. D.Bhattacharjee, Mr. R.G.Chakraborty
Proper communication of a party whip is essential to uphold disqualification for its violation; lack of such communication invalidates disqualification from elected office.
Headnote:(A) Tripura Panchayats Act, 1993 - Section 16 - Tripura Panchayats (Election of Office Bearers) Rules, 1994 - Disqualification of elected members - Petitioners challenged disqualification based on violation of party whip after voting contrary to the party's direction - The court found lack of evidence proving service of whip prior to elections and ruled that disqualification was improper. (Paras 26, 28, 30)
Facts of the case:
Petitioners, elected members of a Gram Panchayat, were disqualified for allegedly violating a party whip during the election of Pradhan and Upa-Pradhan on 16.08.2019. They contended lack of proof of whip service.
Findings of Court:
The court held that there was no evidence of proper communication of the party whip, rendering disqualification invalid.
Issues: The main issue was whether the party whip was properly served prior to the election.
Ratio Decidendi: The court established that without proper communication of a party whip, disqualification based on its violation could not be sustained, emphasizing adherence to procedural fairness. The court referenced legal precedents stressing the serious nature of disqualification.
Result: Disqualification orders were quashed and the writ petitions were allowed.
| Table of Content |
|---|
| 1. petitioners challenged disqualification based on party whip violation. (Para 1 , 2 , 3 , 4) |
| 2. petitioners' defense against the show-cause notices. (Para 6 , 7) |
| 3. arguments highlighting violation of natural justice. (Para 12 , 13 , 14) |
| 4. legal framework for disqualification due to party whip violation. (Para 15 , 19) |
| 5. burden of proof lies on respondents to show party whip was served. (Para 21 , 24) |
| 6. disqualification due to procedural irregularities and lack of proper communication. (Para 28 , 30) |
| 7. court quashed disqualification order, emphasizing adherence to legal procedures. (Para 31) |
1. These three writ petitions being factually and legally similar have been heard together and they would be disposed of by this common judgment.
2. For convenience, the basic facts and controversy brought before this court may be noted from W.P.(C) No.1351 of 2019 which are as under:
By this writ petition, the petitioner, who is an elected member of Fultali Gram Panchayat under Chandipur R.D. Block in Unakoti Tripura District has challenged the order dated 20.09.2019 whereby the Block Development Officer (''the BDO'') of Chandipur R.D.Block, Unakoti Tripura, in the purported exercise of powers under sub-section (3) of S.16 of The Tripura Panchayats Act, 1993 (''the Act'' hereinafter) and sub-rule (1) of R.27 of The Tripura Panchayats (Election of Office Bearers) Rules, 1994 (''the Rules'' hereinafter) declared that the petitioner earned disqualification under S.16 of the Act for violation of party whip and the consequential declaration dated 24.09.2019 declaring that the petitioner had ceased to be a member of the said gram panchayat with effect from the date of such declaration.
3. The said petitioner was elected as a member of Fultali Gram Panchayat from Seat number 06 as a candidate set up by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP hereinafter) in the Panchayat General Election of 2019 which was held on 27.07.2019. Similarly, petitioner of W.P.(C) No.1352 of 2019 was elected from seat number 07 and petitioner of W.P(C) No.1353 of 2019 was elected from seat number 04 in the said Panchayat also as BJP candidates. The Returning Officer of the said election duly declared them to have been elected and issued Certificate of Election dated 31.07.2019 in Form Number 25 in favour of the candidates. Said Fultali Gram Panchayat has 09(nine) elected members in all and 07(seven) among them were sponsored by BJP and 02(two) were sponsored by Indian National Congress (INC in short). The first meeting after the said election was convened on 16.08.2019 for administering Oath of Affirmation to the elected candidates followed by election of Pradhan and Upa Pradhan of the said Gram Panchayat. The Inspector of Schools of the Education Inspectorate, Chandipur R.D.Block, was specified by the State Government in terms of sub-section (1) of S.217 of the Act as the authority to administer Oath to the elected members of the Panchayat and he was also nominated by the District Panchayat Officer to preside over the first meeting of the newly elected panchayat.
4. In the minutes of the proceedings of the said meeting dated 16.08.2019, Annexure - R / 2 of the respondents, it has been recorded that after administering oath to the elected members, the Presiding Officer read out the whip of the party to the elected members of the party including the petitioners for casting their votes in favour of Smt. Abha Sharma for the post of Pradhan and Shri Atish Malakar for the post of Upa Pradhan and he also informed the members that violation of the party whip was likely to disqualify them from the membership of the Gram Panchayat. The said Presiding Officer of the meeting after reading out the party whip also procured signatures of the members whereby the members admitted to have heard and understood the party whip, Annexure - R / 3 of the respondents. During the election process, Atish Malakar, a BJP member proposed the name of Smt. Abha Sharma for the post of Pradhan in a
