SUMANGLI DEVI Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this case, as in several others of the like nature, the petitioner has challenged the vires of the Bihar Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Ordinance, 1963, amending certain provisions of the Bihar Panchayat Raj Act, 1947 (Bihar Act 7 of 1948) and the amendments made in the Bihar Panchayat Election Rules, 1959, hereinafter, respectively, called the Ordinance, the Act and the Rules. It may be stated here that the Ordinance, which was promulgated on the 30th August, 1963, has been repealed and replaced by the Bihar Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Act, 1963 (Bihar Act XVI of 1963) published in an Extraordinary issue of the Bihar Gazette, dated 19th October, 1963.

(2.) Sections 4 and 5 of the Act, as it stood prior to the impugned amendment, read:

(3.) The petitioner's case is that she is a permanent resident of village Jamsari within the jurisdiction of Jamsari Gram Panchayat in the district of Patna. She was a voter entered in the register of voters of the said Gram Panchayat prepared and finally published in 1959 at the time of the previous election. The Elections Officer, respondent No. 3, published the programme on the 8th of November, 1963, for the filing of the nomination and the holding of the election in the Gram Panchayat on the expiry of the term of different office bearers. The village lies in Asthawan Assembly Constituency, and the electrol roll of that constituency which was prepared in 1961 was adopted for the election of the various office bearers of the Gram Panchayat in pursuance of the amendment brought about in the Act and the Rules. The said electoral roll was according to the petitioner, never published as required under the Bihar Panchayat Election Rules and there was no opportunity given to the residents of the Gram Panchayat to file claims to get the names of left out voters entered or to file objection with regard to the incorrect entries made in the voters' list. The petitioner found that her name was not entered in that electoral roll and, therefore, she could not file her nomination paper for standing as a candidate for some office. On this ground alone, the amendment in the Act and the Rules has been challenged.