INDU THAPAR Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB AND OTHERS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The prayer in this petition is to expedite the hearing in an election petition presented on 28.06.2012 involving the elections to the Municipal Council, Ludhiana. The elections were held on 10.06.2012. The complaint in the petition is that nine months have gone by with 20 dates of hearing in between but neither the evidence has been started nor the issues have been framed and the stage is that pleadings are complete, that is all.

(2.) The Election Tribunal constituted under the Punjab State Election Commission Act, 1994 (for short "the Act") is under statutory duty under Section 80(6) of the Act to try election petitions as expeditiously as possible and endeavour to conclude the trial within a period of six months from the date on which the election petition is presented to the Election Tribunal for trial.

(3.) Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the present is an appropriate case where a direction should go to the Election Tribunal to have due regard to Section 80 (6) of the Act as unreasonable delay in deciding and concluding the election trial would not serve public interest, apart from causing injury to the petitioner who can have no control over the way a public servant works in his myriad official duties which tend to keep election disputes on the back burners of daily routine of the bureaucrat-cumElection Tribunal. The petitioner has placed on record the zimni orders passed in the election petition which have been perused and give an impression that the matter may be relegated to the sub-conscious of red tape.