KIRNA RANI SARPANCH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Prayer in this petition is for setting-aside the order dtd. 25/3/2021 vide which the Appellate Authority has dismissed the application for stay during the pendency of the appeal filed by the petitioner against the order dtd. 4/1/2021 vide which the Director Rural Development and Panchayat, Punjab, has suspended the petitioner from the post of Sarpanch.

(2.) Counsel for the petitioner has submitted that the allegations against the petitioner are two fold. Firstly, as per the report of A.D.C., the petitioner has issued a wrong Job Card No.415 favouring Jaspreet Singh and showing his wrong presence in the muster roll whereas he was not entitled to get the Job Card because he is a bachelor and he is living with his parents who have already got Job Card No.205 and therefore, the petitioner being Sarpanch of the village misused her post. The second charge against the petitioner is that an FIR No.89 dtd. 29/7/2020 was registered under Sec. 22 of the NDPS Act against one Shimla Devi, who was apprehended by the police party on suspicion and 450 tablets of CLOVIDOL 100-SR were recovered. It is further submitted that after the arrest, the police recorded the disclosure statement of Shimla Devi in which she has stated that the same was brought by husband of the petitioner and thereafter, the petitioner has given the same to her.

(3.) Counsel for the petitioner has also submitted that the petitioner has already been granted the concession of anticipatory bail in the said FIR as she was nominated in the case on the basis of the disclosure statement of the co-accused vide order dtd. 16/10/2020 passed in CRM-M No.23280 of 2020. It is further argued that the primary allegation against the petitioner in this FIR is based on the disclosure statement of the main accused Shimla Devi and in view of the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in "Tofan Singh vs State of Tamil Nadu" 2013 (16) SCC 31, the same is not admissible against the petitioner as the police has nominated the petitioner due to the political rivalry.