ANANDILAL CHOURASIA Vs. STATE OF M P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner No. 1 is an Advocate from village Patna tamoli; Thana Saleha, Tahsil Gunor, District Panna. The petitioner No. 2 is a retired government Servant from the same village patna Tamoli. On 5-8-2002, one Mallu Sen, aged about 70 years, expired in village Patna tamoli. Next morning, when preparations were made for his funeral, Smt. Kuttibai, his wife, jumped on to the funeral pyre and died. The incident got wide publicity and the state Government set up an inquiry and a team of State Commission for Women went to village Patna Tamoli and submitted a report. The cabinet of the State Government took a decision to stop all kinds of financial assistance to Patna Tamoli Gram Panchayat for a period of two years and also requested the Central Government not to extend any financial assistance to the Gram Panchayat. This decision of the State Government was communicated by a letter dated 28-8-2002 of the Secretary, Panchayat and Rural development Department to the Chief Executive Officer, district Panchayat, Panna, a copy of which has been annexed as Annexure P/6. Aggrieved, the petitioners have filed this writ petition as a public interest litigation praying to the Court to quash the decision of the State Government in Annexure p/6 and also praying to the Court to direct the State Government to implement all the schemes of the State Government and the central Government relating to development in village Patna Tamoli.

(2.) WHEN the writ petition came up for hearing on 27-2-2003, the Division Bench, after hearing the learned counsel for the petitioners and the respondents, was of the view that the matter is of great importance and should be considered and decided by the Full Bench. This is how the writ petition has been referred to us for decision.

(3.) WE have heard Mr. Naman Nagrath, learned counsel appearing for the petitioners and Mr. Vijay K. Shukla, learned Dy. AG, appearing for the respondents and we are of the considered opinion that the decision of the State Government conveyed in Annexure P/6 to stop all financial aid to village Patna Tamoli is unconstitutional and cannot be sustained for reasons which we will now state.