Leila Seth - (1.) The petitioners, fourteen in number, are residents of village Ali and are members of the Gaon Sabha of Ali. They are registered as voters in the Outer Delhi Parliamentary constituency relating to Village Ali. The Gaon Sabha of Ali consists of the villages of Ali, Kotia Mohigram and Said Abad.
(2.) They seek to challenge by a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India the election of the Pradhan and the Members of the Gaon Panchayat of Ali, held on 29th December, 1977.
(3.) The main grounds on which the election is being challenged are : (1) Failure to prepare and maintain a register of the members of the Gaon Sabha as required under rule 4 of the Delhi Panchayat Raj Rules, 1959 (to be referred to briefly as "the Rules"). (2) The invalidity of the notification dated 21st November, 1977, to hold the election of the Pradhan and Members of the Gaon Sabha as it was issued by the Development Commissioner. The Deputy Commissioner being the empowered authority, under Rule 8 of the Rules, the Development Commissioner had no power, authority or jurisdiction to do so. (3) Voters relating to revenue village Said Abad from serial No. 987 to 1142 of the electoral rolls as contained in part 349 of the Outer Delhi Parliamentary Constituency have been erroneously allowed to participate in the election. These voters were settled on land belonging to the Central Government and thus should not have been premitted to vote in a Gaon Sabha Panchayat election which is in respect of rural areas. (4) Persons residing in Ghosi Colony were registered from serial No. 817 to 848 of the electoral rolls as contained in part 359 of the Outer Delhi Parliamentary Constituency and were erroneously allowed to vote. Since, they resided on land that was marked for a dairy and belonged to the Central Government, they should not have been premitted to vote in the Panchayat election.;