FAZRU Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This order will dispose of Civil Writ Petition Nos. 11439, 457, 3575, 7664, 8984, 9011, 9110, 9122, 9334, 10536, 10784, 11668, 11791, 12140, 12313, 12475, 13088, 13754, 13877 and 14766 of 1997 as common questions of fact and law are involved in the same.

(2.) In all these cases, the petitioners have challenged the constitutional validity of S. 175 (1) (q) of the Haryana Panchayati Raj Act, 1994 as it impinges upon one's right to life and liberty and also violates Article 14 of the Constitution of India. The relevant provisions are reproduced as under :-"175. Disqualifications (1) No person shall be a Sarpanch, Up-Sarpanch or a Panch of a Gram Panchayat or a member of a Panchayat Samiti or Zila Parishad or continue as such who;(a) to (p) xx xx xx(q) has more than two living children :Provided that a person having more than two children on or upto the expiry of one year of the commencement of this Act, shall not be deemed to be disqualified.

(3.) Section 175 (1) (q) of the Act restricts the number of children which a person can have. A person can have any number of children and he should incur no disqualification on this score if he has any number of children for the office of Sarpanch or Up-Sarpanch or Panch of a Gram Panchayat or a member of a Panchayat Samiti or Zila Parishad or continue as such as there is no such provision in the Representation of the People Act, 1951. It has been argued that there is no provision in the Representation of the People Act, that a person having more than two children cannot seek election to the Legislative Assembly or the Parliament. There is also no provision that if a person having more than two children gets another child on or upto the expiry of one year of the date when he gets selected shall cease to hold his seat in the Legislature or Parliament. It has also been argued that Article 14 of the Constitution of India does not prohibit reasonable classifica-tion based on intelligible differentia. Legislature could treat villages differently by incorporating this provision for making the slogan "Limit your families to two children norm" a reality.