BASABI KALITA SAIKIA Vs. STATE OF ASSAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The writ petitioner has instituted the present writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking inter alia setting aside of a show cause notice dtd. 26/5/2022 issued to the petitioner by the respondent no. 2 and also for a direction to the respondent no. 2 not to proceed with any proceeding against the petitioner which, according to the petitioner, is either a second proceeding or a parallel proceeding.

(2.) The factual matrix involved in the case can be narrated as follows : the petitioner got elected as a Member of the Jorhat Zilla Parishad in the General Panchayat Election held in December, 2018 in terms of the provisions of Sec. 65 [1][i] of the Assam Panchayat Act, 1994 ['the Assam Panchayat Act', for short]. The petitioner was thereafter, elected as the Vice-President of the Jorhat Zilla Parishad in terms of the provisions contained in Sec. 70 of the Assam Panchayat Act.

(3.) The projected case of the petitioner is that when the petitioner was duly discharging her duties as the Vice-President of the Jorhat Zilla Parishad, she was served with a show cause notice dtd. 2/2/2022 [hereinafter referred to as 'first show cause notice', for easy reference] issued under the hand of the respondent no. 3, alleging misconduct in discharge of duties/neglect or incapacity to perform her duties as such Vice-President of the Zilla Parishad. A number of allegations have been levelled against the petitioner in the first show cause notice. By the first show cause notice, the petitioner was asked to explain as to why the necessary disciplinary action should not be initiated against the petitioner. In response to the first show cause notice issued by the respondent no. 3, the petitioner submitted a reply on 17/2/2022 traversing and controverting the allegations made in the first show cause notice dtd. 2/2/2022. The matter rested at that stage without any further action from the respondent no. 2.