PUNJAB PRADESH CONGRESS COMMITTEE Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee has filed this petition in public interest seeking; a declaration that the provisions of Sections 10 and 10A of the Punjab Panchayati Raj Act, 1994 (Amendment Act No. 4 of 2012) [hereinafter referred to as the "Amendment Act"] is ultra vires to the Constitution of India and the Punjab State Election Commission Act, 1994, insofar as it excludes the role/superintendence, direction and control of State Election Commission in the formation of wards in Gram Sabhas; a direction to the respondents to undertake, complete and finalize the entire process of Wardbandi in all the Gram Sabhas in all the Districts of the State of Punjab strictly in accordance with the provisions of Sections 10 and 10-A of the Amendment Act and Part-IX of the Constitution of India; for quashing the entire process of Wardbandi hitherto done by the respondents in violation of mandatory provisions of Section 10 and 10-A of the Amendment Act; quashing all the subsequent proceedings regarding the preparation/revision of voter lists on the basis of illegal Wardbandi; directing the respondents to initiate and undertake the process of Wardbandi and reservation in the State of Punjab afresh by following the mandatory procedure enunciated in Section 10, 10-A and 11 of the Amendment Act; and for restraining the respondents from holding/going for Panchayat elections on the basis of defective and illegal Wardbandi and the consequent voter lists. It is pleaded in the petition that the petitioner, a constituent of Indian National Congress, duly registered with the Election Commission of India is committed to the lofty ideals of democratic rights from the grassroots level through free, fair, just and transparent process of elections at all levels, received numerous complaints regarding grave illegalities and irregularities committed in the process of Wardbandi in the State of Punjab. Espousing public interest, the present petition has been filed for redressal of the grievances of the general public. Section 10 of the Punjab Panchayati Raj Act, 1994 [hereinafter referred to as the "Act"] has been substituted by the Amendment Act w.e.f. 21.05.2012 and Section 10A has been added. The process of Wardbandi was initiated in all the villages in the State of Punjab for the forthcoming elections of the Gram Panchayats due in the year 2013. The basic principle of contiguity and population is not adhered to inasmuch as the proposed lists of wards were not published in the official gazette, as per the requirement of law. It is further pleaded that the proposed Wardbandi, published/displayed, is totally vague, incomplete, misleading and evasive. The proposed lists of Wardbandi of some blocks, namely Patti Chola Sahib of District Tarn Taran and block Dina Nagar of District Gurdaspur are annexed along with some orders of this Court whereby the writ petition filed by the residents of District Tarn Taran who had sought complete particulars of house numbers and site plan etc. It is also pleaded that the proposed lists do not indicate the method and procedure adopted for formulation of the wards as it does not reflect house number and site plan on the contiguity pattern though in every village house numbers are allocated to the residents, therefore, effective or meaningful objections could not be filed. The lists were not displayed by the Deputy Commissioners, District Development and Panchayat Officer and Block Development and Panchayat Officer of the concerned Panchayats/Gram Sabha areas and even the mandatory period of 7 days for filing the objections was not granted. The petitioner also averred that the final notification of Wardbandi has been issued and for that matter, the list of Wardbandi regarding block Patti Chola Sahib of District Tarn Taran and block Dina Nagar of District Gurdaspur were attached. It is also alleged that the authority to formulate wards has to be an independent authority, conferment of exclusive powers on the Deputy Commissioners and exclusion of the State Election Commission is illegal.

(2.) In the reply filed by respondent Nos. 1, 2 and 4, preliminary objections regarding maintainability of the writ petition were raised; firstly on the ground of delay; secondly on account of vagueness of the petition because no particulars have been given about the place where the proposed list was not displayed and numbers were not furnished and no representation by any aggrieved person was attached. It was rather alleged that 6231 objections were received, out of which 2922 were allowed and 3309 were dismissed. Thirdly the election law confers specific right on each voter which cannot be invoked by the petitioner; and finally the bar of Article 243O of the Constitution of India was raised. On merits, it was pleaded that prior to the Amendment Act, the Panchayats were constituted in terms of Section 10 of the Act taking Gram Sabha as a multimember single constituency. However, this system was highlighted in CWP No. 10804 of 2008 and vide order dated 07.01.2009, this matter was referred to the Full Bench and during the pendency of the adjudication of Full Bench, the Government decided to introduce amendment in the Act so that the elections of the Panchayats can be conducted as a multi-member constituency instead of multi-member single constituency. Accordingly, Amendment Act was brought and the Gram Sabha was divided into wards on the basis of its population by amending Section 10 and inserting Section 10-A in the Amendment Act. It is further averred that in view of the provisions of Sections 10 and 10-A of the Amendment Act, the Deputy Commissioner in the State of Punjab has been declared as the competent authority to initiate the process of Wardbandi and the necessary guidelines were issued to them vide letter No. DPE-1/78/12/Policy/21720-41 dated 07.09.2012. As per the guidelines, the following procedure was asked to be followed:-

(3.) Some other guidelines were also issued on 19.09.2012 and 30.11.2012 respectively, which read as under:-