HEERALAL Vs. COLLECTOR DISTT DHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a petition under Art.226 of the Constitution of India for issuance of a writ of mandamus so as to quash the order (Annexure C) of the Collector, Dhar.

(2.) The short facts giving rise to the petition are these : The petitioner No. 1 is the Sarpancha of the Gram Panchayat, Kothada, which is the petitioner No. 2 herein. The Collector, Dhar within whose territorial jurisdiction the Gram Panchayat, Kothada is located, vide Annexure-C dt. 15-2-1984, constituted a committee for construction work to be carried out by the Gram Panchayat, Kothada. The contention of the petitioner is that the Collector who is, of course, the prescribed authority under S.79 of the Madhya Pradesh Panchayat Act, 1981 (hereinafter for short referred to as the Act), had no authority either under that Section or under any other Section of the Act to constitute the said Committee and, therefore, the constitution of the said Committee is invalid.

(3.) The learned counsel for the respondent has in counter submitted that S.39 of the Act provides for the constitution of a Gram Samiti which has to carry out the construction work on behalf of the Gram Panchayat. The Gram Panchayat had constituted a Committee styled as 'Nirman Karya Samiti' vide Annexure B, but the constitution of that Committee was invalid inasmuch as it was not constituted in accordance with R.3 of the Madhya Pradesh Gram Panchayat (Gram Samiti) Rules, 1983 (for short hereinafter referred to as the rules) and thereafter the Gram Panchayat failed to constitute a Gram Samiti under S.39 of the Act for carrying out its construction work and, therefore, the Collector, the Prescribed Authority under S.79 of the Act was competent to constitute the Gram Samiti under S.79 of the Act, more so when he was so directed by the Government vide its order No. 483/1087 M/22/Pan/84 dt. 1st Feb. 1984 (Annexure R6) of which a reference has been given in the Annexure C. As such the constitution of the Gram Samiti vide Annexure C is valid.