Court No. - 36
Case :- MATTERS UNDER ARTICLE 227 No. - 8086 of 2018 Petitioner :- Lalit Kumar Respondent :- District Judge Ghaziabad And 17 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Vikash Chandra Tiwari
Hon'ble Mrs. Sunita Agarwal,J.
Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned Standing Counsel.
The prayer is for expeditious disposal of the Election Petition No. 05 of 2017 (Lalit Kumar vs. Juberul Islam and others) filed by the petitioner.
Perused the order sheet.
Reference has been made to the Division Bench judgment of this Court in the case of Writ C No. 14277 of 2016 (Anita Devi v. Prescribed Authority, Panchayat Raj and 11 Ors.) connected with other writ petitions reported in 2016 LawSuit(ALL) 1051.
Relevant paragraph nos. '9' and '10' are reproduced below:-
"9.The election petitions must be heard in an expeditious manner and there should not be uncalled for adjournment of such petitions. This is more necessary because of the fact that the elections are for a fixed term and every attempt must be made to settle the disputes pertaining to such elections within reasonable time and nobody should be permitted to linger the proceedings so as to frustrate the election petition or to create a situation where the relief to be granted to the election petitioner may be rendered illusionary.
10.We are of the considered opinion that the Sub-Divisional Magistrate who is appointed as the Election Tribunal under the provisions of Section 12 C of the Panchayat Raj Act must proceed with the election petitions in a business like manner. There should not be any uncalled adjournment on the mere asking of the parties. The time frame provided for in the matter of filing of the written statement must be strictly adhered to. For avoiding adjournment,of the election petitions on the ground that the Sub-Divisional Magistrate is busy with other work or has been assigned other duties, the State Government must issue directions to ensure that the Sub-Divisional Magistrate/Election Tribunal fix at least one particular day in a week on which they shall necessarily hear the election petitions. Adjournment of the election petition on the ground that the election officer is busy with other work has to be avoided except in extremely unavoidable circumstances."
Be that as it may, without entering into the merits of the claim made by the petitioner, this petition is disposed of with the direction to the respondent No.1 namely the District Judge, Ghaziabad to decide the Election Petition No. 05 of 2017 (Lalit Kumar vs. Juberul Islam and others), expeditiously, preferably, within a period of six months from the date of submission of certified copy of this order, after giving due opportunity of hearing to all concerned.
It is made clear that no unnecessary adjournment would be granted to either of the party and in case of any such adjournment, appropriate cost shall be imposed.
Order Date :- 27.10.2018/Brijesh