MARUTI VASANT KASHID Vs. DIVISIONAL COMMISSIONERLAWSUITDOWNLOAD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By this petition under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner has challenged the order passed by the Additional Commissioner, Pune Refusing to condone the delay in filing the Appeal under section 16(2) of the Bombay Village Panchayat Act, 1958 (for short, the Act).

(2.) The facts leading to the petition are that petitioner contested the elections of Gram Panchayat, Village Hunnur, Taluka Mangalvedha, Dist. Solapur. He was elected as Member of Gram Panchayat. Respondent No.4 to this petition filed an application before the Collector, Solapur being Miscellaneous Application No.5 of 2010 under section 16(1)(b) of the Village Panchayat Act, alleging that the petitioner has incurred disqualification as he is a father of a third child. In such circumstances, he should be disqualified from continuing as a member and his office should be declared as vacant. That application was contested by the petitioner. The matter was heard by the Additional Collector, Solapur who by an order dated 26th May 2010 held that the petitioner has incurred disqualification under section 14(1)(j-i) of the Act. Thus, he declared that the office held by the petitioner is vacant.

(3.) Being aggrieved and dis-satisfied, the petitioner preferred an appeal to the State Government which was made over to the Commissioner of the Revenue Division. The petitioner prayed that the order passed by the Collector be set aside. However, the petitioner realised that the appeal is beyond time. The petitioner pointed out in the application that he was under a bonafide impression that time to prefer appeal is 60 days and, therefore, delay has been caused. It was neither deliberate nor intentional and, therefore, deserves to be condoned. On that application, respondent No.4 filed his reply and urged that the Act does not empower the Commissioner to condone the delay. In such circumstances, when the appeal is not preferred within 15 days from the date of the decision of the Collector, it is hopelessly time barred.