EDUPALLI JAGANNATHA RAO Vs. REGIONAL INSPECTOR OF MUNICIPAL COUNCILS AND LOCAL BOARDS NORTHERN RANGE VIJAYAWADA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution for issuing a writ of certiorari to call for the records and to quash the Notification issued by the Regional Inspector of Municipal Councils and Local Boards, Northern Range, Vijayawada, on 19th August, 1953, which has been published in the Fort St.George Gazette, dated 9th September, 1953.

(2.) The petitioner alleges inter alia that ever since 1924, Sitaramapuram hamlet, which is contiguous to the revenue village of Telaprole, was included in the Panchayat Board of Telaprole and the voters in Sitharamapuram hamlet have been electing members to the Panchayat Board. In paragraph 4 of the affidavit filed in support of the petition, it is stated that the population of Telaprole was about 10,000 out of which 2,000 consisted of the residents of Sitharamapuram hamlet, and out of about Rs. 20,000 collected by way of taxes, etc., by the Telaprole Panchayat, a little less than half was collected from the residents of Sitharamapuram hamlet, and that by reason of these facts Telaprole Panchayat Board, including Sitharamapuram hamlet, came to be regarded as one composite unit. The petitioner is a voter in Sitharamapuram hamlet and he states that over 900 voters in that hamlet, who had exercised their franchise in the last elections held in 1940 to the Panchayat Board of Telaprole, have been, by reason of the notification, excluded from the Panchayat Board of Telaprole. It is submitted that having once acted under Schedule III of the Act, the Regional Inspector and the Government have no power to notify afresh excluding Sitharamapuram hamlet from the Telaprole Panchayat.

(3.) In the counter-affidavit filed by the Regional Inspector of Municipal Councils and Local Boards, Northern Range, Vijayawada, it has been stated that Sitharamapuram hamlet is not a part of the revenue village of Telaprole ; that on the proposal submitted by the District Panchayat Officer, he notified the reconstitution of the Telaprole Panchayat under the Madras Village Panchayats Act, 1950 and the rules thereunder ; that as per the said notification no change was made in the exising territorial jurisdiction of the Panchayat; that in G.O.Ms. No.1538, dated 15th July, 1953, the Government of the Composite State of Madras issued orders for excluding the hamlet of Sitharamapuram, which is within the jurisdiction of the revenue village of Ampapuram, from the jurisdiction of the Telaprole Panchayat.