NARAIN SINGH Vs. N.S. CHEEMA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) NARAIN singh, petitioner, was elected as sarpanch of the Gram Panchayat, village Baggeke Uttar, on June, 22, 1972. His election was challenged under section 13 -B of the Punjab Gram Panchayat Act, 1952 (hereinafter called the Act) by Kashmir Singh, respondent No. 2, which was set aside by the Sub -Divisional Magistrate, Fazilka, on July 31, 1974, on the ground that the petitioner was disqualified from seeking election under section 5 (5) (b) of the Act and from being chosen as Sarpanch as he had been convicted under section 61 (1) (a) of the Punjab Excise Act, which amounted to moral turpitude. It was also held by the Sub -Divisional Magistrate that the nomination paper of Darshan Singh had been wrongly rejected by the Presiding Officer. It is against this order of the Sub -Divisional Magistrate that the present writ petition has been filed.

(2.) MR . I.K. Mehta, the learned counsel for the petitioner, raised the following contentions : -

(3.) IN Mangali v. Chhakki Lal, A.I.R. 1963 All 527, the Allahabad High Court laid down the following three tests which should ordinarily be applied for judging whether certain offences did or did not involve 'moral turpitude' : -