UTTARAKHAND GRAM PRADHAN SANGATHAN Vs. STATE OF UTTARAKHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IN view of the provisions contained in Article 243E of the Constitution of India, there is no concept of Administrator of any Panchayat, but since the Government, by a notification, while postponing election of Panchayats, appointed Administrators, the present batch of writ petitions, in the form of Public Interest Litigations, were filed.

(2.) THE Government having taken the stand that what it has done is permissible in terms of the law made to that effect, the question, which is to be decided, is whether Sub -section (3 -A), inserted in Section 12 of the Uttar Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act, 1947 and in Sections 8 & 20 of the Uttar Pradesh Kshettra Panchayats and Zila Panchayats Act, 1961, by the Uttaranchal Panchayat (Amendment) Act, 2002, is valid or not. A look at Article 243E would make it abundantly clear that the term of every Panchayat is five years and no more. The said Article mandates that before expiry of the term of Panchayat, election of new Panchayat, who would succeed the existing Panchayat, should be completed. That being the situation, there is no scope of appointment of an Administrator, nor there is any scope of extension of an existing Panchayat. When the constitutional mandate is that an election to constitute a Panchayat shall be completed before expiry of the duration of the existing Panchayat, there is no question of providing in the Act, dealing with the subject made by the State Legislature, anything contrary to completion of election of a Panchayat before the time specifically mentioned in the Constitution. There is, therefore, no premise to proceed on the basis that it is not practicable to hold election to constitute a Gram Panchayat or a Kshettra Panchayat or a Zila Panchayat within the time as specified in Article 243E of the Constitution of India and, accordingly, to do something, which has not been provided, either expressly or impliedly, in the said Article and expressly negatived the same in so many words.

(3.) WE are not issuing any further direction in the matter, inasmuch as, on 2nd December, 2010, a Notification has been published giving schedule of elections in relation to Panchayats situated in the district of Haridwar, with which these writ petitions are concerned. We, however, make it clear that the Administrator, who has been appointed and who shall henceforth be appointed in the circumstances indicated above, shall only be entitled to discharge day -to -day functioning of the Panchayats and shall not be entitled, under any circumstances, to take any policy decision with regard to anything concerning the Panchayats in question. If any such policy decision has been taken by the Administrators, in respect of any of those Panchayats in which they have been appointed, those policy decisions shall be treated as null and void. We hope and expect that the State Government, in consultation with the State Election Commission, shall immediately take steps to complete the elections.