Court No. - 32
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 15918 of 2021 Petitioner :- Surendra Kumar Yadav Respondent :- State Of U P And 4 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Anoop Kumar Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.
Hon'ble Rohit Ranjan Agarwal,J.
1. Heard Sri Anoop Kumar, learned counsel for the petitioner, learned Standing Counsel for respondents No.1 to 5 and Sri Pankaj Kumar Gupta, learned counsel for respondent No.6.
2. This writ petition has been filed by Ex-Pradhan seeking a direction upon respondent- District Authority for payment of certain work conducted by him during his tenure.
3. Reliance has been placed upon letter of District Panchayat Raj Officer, Basti addressed to the Assistant Development Officer (Panchayat), Vikas Khand-Gaur, Basti, wherein it is stated that work which has been done during the tenure when the petitioner was Officiating Pradhan may be released. In para 13 of the writ petition it is contended that the petitioner has got the toilet of Panchayat Bhawan constructed during his tenure.
4. Sri Pankaj Kumar Gupta, learned counsel for the Gaon Sabha while vehemently opposing the writ petition submitted that there is no provision in U.P. Panchayat Raj Act, 1947 for making any payment to a sitting Pradhan for the work done in the Gram Panchayat. He further contented that it is only the contractor, who can approach the Court for release of fund for any work done.
5. From perusal of material on record, it transpires that the petitioner himself got the work done in the Panchayat Bhawan and demanding payment of the same. It is unfortunate to note that District Panchayat Raj Officer, Basti has addressed a letter on 07.11.2020 to Assistant Development Officer (Panchayat) for release of payment for the work done during the tenure of the petitioner as an officiating Pradhan. Such kind of direction cannot be issued by District Revenue Authority to his subordinate or any of his colleague, as the Act does not envisages a situation for a Pradhan to himself carry out development work and indulge in any construction activity in the village.
6. From perusal of averment made in the writ petition it transpires that the petitioner, who during his tenure as officiating Pradhan, himself started making construction over the land of Gram Sabha and has undertaken the construction of toilet on the land of Panchayat Bhawan, which he cannot do. Such payment cannot be made to a sitting or officiating Gram Pradhan or any member of Land Management Committee and it is only the work which is done by a contractor to whom contract is awarded after inviting tender, then such payment can be made.
7. In view of the above, the writ petition is dismissed with costs of Rs.10,000/-. The District Magistrate, Basti is directed to look into the matter and stop any payment being made to such person.
8. Learned Standing Counsel shall communicate this order to the District Magistrate, Basti within seventy-two hours.
9. Office is directed to hand over a copy of this order to the learned Standing Counsel within forty-eight hours.
Order Date :- 13.8.2021 Kushal