IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Date of decision: 28.04.2026 Premvir Saddi ....Petitioner Vs.

State of Punjab and others ....Respondents CORAM : HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE HARSH BUNGER Present: Mr. R.S. Manhas, Advocate for the petitioner.

Mr. Harpreet Singh, AAG, Punjab.

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HARSH BUNGER J. (Oral)

1 Petition herein is, filed under Articles 226/227 of the Constitution of India, inter alia, seeking a writ in the nature of Certiorari, for setting aside the order dated 06.10.2025 (Annexure P-6) passed by learned Director, Rural Development and Panchayat Department, Punjab, whereby the petitioner was suspended from the post of Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat Utalan, Tehsil Samrala, District Ludhiana.

1.1 A further prayer has been made for setting aside the order dated 12.03.2026 (Annexure P-8) passed by learned Appellate Authority, whereby the appeal preferred by petitioner against the suspension order dated

06.10.2025 (Annexure P-6), has been dismissed.

2. Briefly, the petitioner was elected as the Sarpanch of village Utalan, Tehsil Samrala, District Ludhiana in the year 2024 and, thereafter, he assumed the charge of the office of Sarpanch.

3. It is averred that at the time of contesting the election, there were two case FIRs, which were registered against the petitioner i.e. FIR No.105, dated 17.05.2024 under Sections 323, 342, 506, 354, 149, 120-B of IPC, Police Station Samrala, District Khanna and FIR No.220 of 2021, dated 05.10.2021, under Sections 323, 325, 364, 342, 379, 506, 148, 149 of IPC. It is submitted that in case FIR No.178, cancellation report has been submitted. 4. It is further averred that Sh. Amandeep Singh got lodged another FIR No.109 dated 20.06.2025 (Annexure P-1) under Sections 109, 115(2), 126(2), 118(2), 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (in short “BNS Act, 2023”) against the petitioner.

4.1 It appears that the petitioner was arrested in the aforesaid case FIR No.109 (Annexure P-1) on 24.06.2025 and thereafter, he sought regular bail, which was granted by learned Additional Sessions Judge, Ludhiana, vide order dated 11.07.2025 (Annexure P-2).

5. It transpires that the concerned District Development and Panchayat Officer submitted a report dated 18.07.2025 (Annexure P-3) to the learned Director, Department of Rural Development and Panchayat, Punjab, recommending suspension of the petitioner.

5.1 On the basis of the aforesaid report dated 18.07.2025 (Annexure P-3), the learned Director issued a show cause notice to the petitioner before initiating action against him under Section 20 of the Punjab Panchayati Raj Act, 1994 (in short “1994 Act”).

6. The petitioner is stated to have appeared before the learned Director, through his counsel and denied the allegations levelled against him. 7. The learned Director, vide order dated 19.08.2025 (Annexure P-4), suspended the petitioner from the post of Sarpanch for a period of 30 days and further marked an enquiry to the learned Additional Deputy Commissioner (D), Ludhiana, who in turn submitted his report dated 16.09.2025 (Annexure P-5), the relevant extract of the same reads as under:-

“xxx xxx xxx While reading the report received by the SHO Police Station, City-2 Khanna, District Ludhiana, Sarpanch, Premvir Saddi, Gram Panchayat Utalan were arrested on 24.06.2025 in case FIR No.109 dated 20.06.2025 under sections 109, 126(2), 115(2), 118 (3) BNS, PS City-2, Khanna and thereafter added offence u/s 61(2), 149, 190, 191 (3) BNS and Sections 3(5) BNS was deleted on 23.06.2025 and Sections 351 (2) bNS was added on 26.06.2025 and the concerned was produced before the Hon'ble Court Khanna. On which the Judge granted judicial remand to the concerned. On which the concerned was lodged in Central Jail Ludhiana on 25.06.2025. (Annexed to the report)

While perusing the report received from the SHO Police Station, Samrala, District Ludhiana, it was found that the case No.105 dated 17.05.2021 registered under sections

323/342/506/354/149/120-B IPC registered at Police S