NIKKU RAM Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Gram Panchayat Khairampur consists of a Sarpanch and 6 Panches. Elections to this Gram Panchayat were held on 21.6.1983. S/Shri Jagdish Chander, Ram Sarup, Jai Kishan, Ram Kumar and Bhagirath polled 211, 189, 186, 161 and 150 votes respectively and were declared elected as Panches. Out of them, Ram Sarup and Ram Kumar belong to scheduled Caste. S/Shri Ami Lal, Ghura Ram and Jai Narain who all belonged to Scheduled Caste polled 133, 130 and 109 votes respectively. However, the Returning Officer did not declare Ami Lal or either the remaining two as elected and instead declared Niku Ram who had polled only 101 votes to be elected as the sixth Panch. This was done by the Presiding Officer on a misconception of the rule and on the assumption that two seats were reserved for the candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste; and that only two persons belonging to those castes could be elected Panches out of six Panches and any other candidate belonging to Scheduled Caste even if he secured higher votes than the candidates of the general category will not be entitled to be declared as elected Panch. Aggrieved, Ami Lal filed an application before the Deputy Commissioner, Hissar complaining that the Returning Officer due to misinterpretation of rules had declared elected Shri Niku Ram as Panch though he had secured only 101 votes as compared to 133 votes polled by him. The Deputy Commissioner purporting to act under rule 43 of The Gram Panchayat Election Rules, 1960 (for short, the rules) accepted the representation of Ami Lal and ordered that Niku Ram should be dropped from the declared list of Panches and the Gram Panchayat should be represented by Ami Lal. Aggrieved by this, Niku Ram has filed this writ petition.

(2.) Clause (b) of Sub-section (4) of Section 5 of the Haryana Gram Panchayat Act provides that every Gram Panchayat with seven or more Panches shall have two panches who are members of the Scheduled Castes if their population is ten per centum or more of the population of the Sabha area concerned. Sub-section (4) provides that the election shall be by secret ballot and direct vote in the manner prescribed and the prescribed number of candidates securing the highest number of valid votes shall be deemed to have been elected. It is not in dispute that Gram Panchayat Khairampur consists of 7 Panches. A Sarpanch for the purpose of the Act is considered to be a Panch. The village had more than 10 per cent of population belonging to the members of Scheduled Castes. Two members out of the six Panches were to be members of Scheduled Caste. There is equally no dispute regarding the number of votes polled by the candidates mentioned above and the declaration of the result.

(3.) Learned counsel for the petitioner has argued that once the Returning Officer had declared the petitioner elected as a Panch, that declaration could be challenged only through an election petition filed before competent authority as prescribed by the Act and the rules framed thereunder. The Deputy Commissioner had no powers to set aside that election and under rule 43 he can only interpret the rule if there was any ambiguity. The order was bad because it had been passed in violation of the principles of natural justice.