KAM SINGH Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Vide Notification No PS-61/13, dated April 28, 1961, Annexure 'B', the erstwhile State of Punjab created the Panipat Block within the meaning of Section 2(2) of the Punjab Panchayat Samitis and Zila Parishads Act, 1961 (hereinafter called the Act). A Panchayat Samiti was constituted for this Block and it did function for some time in accordance with the provisions of the Act. Vide Notification No. PS-K-72/5 dated May 18, 1972. Annexure 'C' the State of Haryana in supersession of the previous notification on the subject redemarcated Panipat Block and notified this fact under Section 2(2) of the Act. The result of this notification was that the area of 12 Gram Sabhas was excluded from this Block and area of 6 Gram Sabhas was included therein.

(2.) Vide Annexure "A" attached to the original writ petition, election programme for holding the election of primary members representing Sarpanches and Panches of the newly constituted Block was issued. The appellant himself was a candidate in the elections held on July 10, 1972 and was declared to have been defeated on that very day. Respondent Nos. 5 to 20 were declared elected. He filed Civil Writ No. 2856 of 1972 in this Court challenging the election held on July 10, 1972, inter alia, on the ground that no notification under Section 3(1) of the Act declaring the constitution of a Panchayat Samiti for the redemarcated area was issued. The other pleas raised in the petition involve questions of fact which cannot properly be determined in proceedings under Article 226 of the Constitution. For this reason, I am not adverting to those pleas. The petition came up for hearing before a learned Judge of this Court who held that when there were marginal adjustments in the area of a Block, it was not necessary for the State Government to issue a fresh notification under Section 3(3) of the Act. The learned Judge also found that the other pleas raised could well have been made the subject-matter of an election petition instead of being agitated in a civil writ on these grounds, the writ filed by the appellant was dismissed. He has come up in appeal before us under Clause X of the Letters Patent.

(3.) In order to properly understand the legal position, it becomes necessary to notice the relevant statutory provisions :-