GRAM PANCHAYAT Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioners are aggrieved of the orders Annexures P -1, P -2 and P -3. Petitioner No. 1 is the Gram Panchayat of Village Neelpur, Rajpura, District Patiala. Two notifications were issued by the State of Punjab appended to the writ petition as Annexures P -1 and P -2 expressing its inclination to include within the municipal limits of the Municipal Council, Rajpura, the areas specified in the notifications. The notifications having been issued under Section 5(2) of the Punjab Municipal Act, 1911 as amended, would require the respondents to solicit objections from the persons residing in the affected villages/areas.

(2.) THE grievance of the petitioners is that in the said notifications Annexures P -1 and P -2, the names of their villages were not mentioned and it only referred to khasra numbers while describing the schedule of boundaries and in view of this, they were prevented from filing the objections and thereby prejudicing their rights. In support of their plea, the learned counsel for the petitioners has relied upon two judgments of this Court in Ms. Vee Kay Oils Pvt. Ltd. v. The State of Punjab : (1994 -2) P.L.R. 234 and Sewa Singh and others v. State of Punjab : (2000 -2) P.L.R. 727.

(3.) IF that be so, then this Court is of the opinion that soliciting objections from the parties can be rendered illusory, as the people from the affected area may possibly remain in the dark about the areas of their village being included in the municipal limits.