Court No. - 48
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 10779 of 2019 Petitioner :- Vidya Sagar Yadav Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 3 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Ashish Kumar,R.P.S. Chauhan Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.
Hon'ble Siddharth,J.
Instructions have been received by learned Standing Counsel, which are taken on record.
Heard Sri R.P.S. Chauhan and Sri Ashish Kumar, learned counsels for the petitioner, learned Standing Counsel for the State-respondents.
The petitioner has approached this Court against the order dated 21.2.2019 passed by respondent No.3, District Panchayat Raj Officer, Maharajganj, whereby he has stopped the operation of the account of Gram Panchayat by petitioner, who is Gram Pradhan of Gram Panchayat, Lohrauli, District Maharajganj.
Learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that District Panchayat Raj Officer, Maharajganj, has no power or authority to pass the order of stopping of operation of Bank Account by Gram Pradhan. No proceeding under Section 95 (1) (g) of U.P. Panchayat Raj Act was initiated against the petitioner prior to passing of this order and ,therefore, in view of the judgement and order of this Court in the case of Ramawati Devi Vs. State of U.P. and others, 2002 (5) AWC 3473, the impugned order is illegal and deserved to be quashed.
In the instructions received by learned Standing Counsel, it has been admitted by District Magistrate, Maharajganj that financial and administrative power of the petitioner has not been seized as yet. After passing of the impugned order, notices for proceedings under Section 95 (1) (g) of U.P. Panchayat Raj Act, have been issued to the petitioner.
After considering the rival submissions and the judgement of this Court in the case of Ramawati Devi (supra), this Court is of the view that the impugned order was passed by District Panchayat Raj Officer, Maharajganj, without legal competence and the proceedings under Section 95 (1) (g) of U.P. Panchayat Raj Act have been initiated subsequently.
The aforesaid impugned order dated 21.2.2019 passed by respondent No.3, District Panchayat Raj Officer, Maharajganj, is hereby quashed.
However, it is open for the District Magistrate, Maharajganj, respondent No.2, to conclude the proceedings initiated against the petitioner, under Section 95 (1) (g) of U.P. Panchayat Raj Act, within a period of three months from the date of production of certified copy of this order.
As consequence of the quashing of impugned order, the petitioner shall be permitted by District Magistrate, Maharajganj, to operate the Bank account of Gram Panchayat.
This writ petition is allowed.
Order Date :- 29.4.2019 Ruchi Agrahari