(1.) Leave granted.
(2.) The conundrum in this appeal is about the inclusion or exclusion of the Member of the House of Parliament (for short "MP") representing the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, who is also an ex-officio member of the Panchayat Samiti, for reckoning the quorum of a special meeting regarding motion of no confidence against the Pramukh of the Little Andaman Panchayat Samiti (for short the "said Samiti") and also whether he/she can exercise his/her vote on the 'No Confidence Motion' within the meaning of the provisions of Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Panchayats) Regulation, 1994 (for short "Regulation") and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Panchayats Administration Rules) 1997 (for short "the Rules").
(3.) A 'No Confidence Motion' dated 19th December, 2007 was moved by respondent No. 6 against the appellant (Pramukh of the said Samiti). The said Samiti consisted of six members i.e. five directly elected members from territorial constituencies in the Panchayat area and one MP representing the Union Territory. A meeting for discussion of the 'No Confidence Motion' was scheduled on 2nd January, 2017 at 3.00 PM in the Conference Hall of the Panchayat Samiti. That notice was duly served to all the members. But only 3 elected members remained present at the scheduled time (3.00 PM) and place of the meeting. As the quorum was not complete, the members waited upto one hour i.e. upto 4.00 PM. Eventually, the meeting came to be dissolved by the Executive Officer for want of quorum of four members, in view of Section 107 of the Regulation. The Executive Officer issued communication in that behalf on 2nd July, 2017 which reads thus: