MUKESH KUMAR PANDEY Vs. STATE OF BIHAR THROUGH PRINCIPAL SECRETARY, PANCHAYATI RAJ DEPARTMENT, GOVERNMENT OF BIHAR, PATNA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Learned counsel for the parties have assisted the Court.

(2.) Ms. Ranjeeta, the Sub-Divisional Officer, West, Muzaffarpur (respondent no. 5) and Smt. Rupam Shahi (respondent no. 10), Member of Block Panchayat Samiti, Kanti in the district of Muzaffarpur along with her husband Sri Prashant Kumar Shahi, are present in Court and have also been heard.

(3.) Before going into the merits of the matter, an issue which has cropped up before the Court and which was the reason for the Court to take judicial notice of the fact, which gave a new twist to the whole matter, was that Smt. Rupam Shahi, who was one of the six elected Members of the Block Panchayat Samiti, Kanti, and was present in the meeting held on 29.06.2016 for the swearing-in of the Members followed by election of Pramukh and Up-Pramukh, filed an affidavit before this Court, taking a high moral ground that she was only trying to state what was known to her and was within her personal knowledge. The said stand, which prima facie appears to be appealing, was in fact a ploy to prejudice the mind of the Court and to support the case of the petitioners by trying to show that the procedure adopted by the district officials, especially, the Sub-Divisional Officer, West, Muzaffarpur was not proper. The relevant paragraphs of the counter affidavit, filed on behalf of the respondent no. 10, read as under :