RAMSINGH CHAUHAN Vs. STATE OF M P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner who was elected Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat Semlya Chau in 1978, has filed this petition under Arts. 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India, which arises out of the provisions of Section 27 of the Panchayat Act, 1962, whereby the petitioner has been removed from the post of Sarpanch and a recovery of Rs. 18,383.77 p. is ordered against him.

(2.) The petitioner's case, in brief, may be stated thus : That the petitioner is an active worker and leader in his area of Bhartiya Janta Party and was elected as Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat Semlya Chau in 1978; that when the Congress (I) came to power in M. P. in the general elections held in 1980, it started wreaking vengeance on workers and leaders of Bhartiya Janta Party and adopted all means fair or foul to eject workers, and leaders of Bhartiya Janta Party from all positions of power and elective posts. Further according to the petitioner the respondent No. 2 Collector, Indore actively helped the Ruling Party in their efforts to remove all opposition workers from elective posts and, thus, mala fide served a notice on the petitioner under Section 27 of the M. P. Panchayats Act, 1962 dated 28-11-1980 (Annexure-A) calling upon him to show cause why he should not be removed from the office of Sarpanch. Further according to the petitioner, in fact, this notice was not served on him in person but he had to apply for getting a copy thereof after reading in local newspapers about the Collector having issued such a notice. As the show cause notice Annexure-A was issued on the basis of the report of the Deputy Engineer, Shri Girish Borgaonkar the petitioner by Annexure-B dated 15-12-1980 requested the Collector to supply him with a copy of the said report so that he would be in a position to give a detailed reply to the show cause notice. However, admittedly no such copy was supplied to the petitioner though vide Annexure-C dated 151-1981. He was called upon to appear before the Collector on 2-3-1981 on which date he sought adjournment and on 13-3-1981 the petitioner again asked for a copy of the report of Shri Borgaonkar and with the said reply also submitted the valuation report which he got prepared from Shri S. S. Telang, a registered valuer. But ultimately by Annexure-F dated 29-4-1981 the Collector ordered removal of the petitioner from the office of Sarpanch and directed that a sum of Rs. 18,383.77 p. be recovered from him as arrears of land revenue.

(3.) Against the said order the petitioner filed appeal before the Revenue Commissioner, Indore Division, Indore under Section 303 of the said Panchayat Act Annexure-G, but without deciding the same on merits he returned the same to the petitioner on the ground that he had no jurisdiction to hear the appeal in view of the fact that no specified appellate authority has been prescribed as per clause 83 (1) of the Panchayat Ordinance. 1981. Hence this petition.