- (1.) The appellant was elected a Councillor of Rajpura Municipal Council in January, 1998. In the month of April, 1998, he was elected as President of the Municipality. He had held that office hardly for a period of four months when he was served with a notice dated 19-8-1998 Issued by the Principal Secretary, Department of Local Government, State of Punjab requiring him to show cause why he be not removed from the post of President and of member of the Municipal Council and also why he be not restrained from contesting elections of the Municipal Council for the next five years. The notice levelled three charges against the appellant. The first two charges are redundant inasmuch as the same have been found not substantiated and hence not acted upon. The third charge only needs to be dealt with on which alone is founded the order of removal from Presidentship which was impugned by the appellant by filing a writ petition before the High Court. Charge No. 3 is extracted from the show cause notice and reproduced hereunder:- "3. . . . . . . . . . . . the Executive Officer vide his letter No. 6416 dated 5-6-1998 have informed that the Municipal Council, had invited the tenders for purchase of the Fogging Machine as per the rules and after completion of all the formalities fogging machines were brought and tested for many days in different wards of Municipal Council but you asked the Executive Officer that payment of this machine should not be made. Due to this reason the working of Municipal Council have been obstructed. Whereas to purchase this machine the funds from the District Planning Board have been received by the Municipal Council. But Deputy Commissioner, Patiala had also ordered the Municipal Council, to purchase this fogging Machine. This action of yours is against the interest of the Municipal Council. 4. Therefore for the charges stated above it is proposed that action be taken against you under Ss. 22, 16(1)(e) and (2) of Punjab Municipal Act, 1911 and to remove you from the post of President/post of Member of the Municipal Council, Rajpura and to restrain you from contesting the election of Council for next five years. " (Underlining by us)
(2.) The appellant gave a detailed reply. In so far as the abovesaid third charge is concerned, the appellant submitted as under : ". . . . . . . . . . . . . .that the aforesaid fogging machine was delivered to the Municipal Council, Rajpura for testing purposes and the said machine was worked out in various wards of the Municipal Council. Upon using and testing the said machine, it was found that the said machine has certain inherent defects and was not working properly. Because of the same defects and on the advice of the Municipal Council, the said machine was returned to the supplier and, therefore, there was no question of making any payment of the aforesaid machine. It is apparent that the Executive Officer Shri Ashok Kumar wanted a defective machine to be purchased by the Municipal Council for his personal gains. By any stretch of imagination the undersigned was not expected to approve the purchase of a defective machine and make the payment thereof causing a big loss to the Municipal Council. Under the circumstances, there is no question of any loss having been caused to the Municipal Council or any such act done by the undersigned which is against the interest of the Municipal Council. All the actions of the undersigned as a President of the Municipal Council have been taken in the best interest of the general public and in the interest of the Municipal Council and public exchequer. The so-called report submitted by the Executive Officer of the Municipal Council Shri Ashok Kumar against the undersigned, through various communications dated 5-8-1998 and 3-8-1998 are out of personal vengeance and is a calculated move made by him to harm the undersigned and to seek his removal so that the aforesaid Shri Ashok Kumar may carry out his evil designs with a free hand and without any obstruction. "
(3.) The appellant was called for a personal hearing before the Principal Secretary. Local Government. The appellant availed the opportunity of personal hearing and apart from making oral submissions, also submitted a written memo of his submissions reiterating, though by elaborating, the stand earlier taken by him. He also set out in very many details, how his Presidentship of the Municipality in the background of the political party to which he belonged, was an eyesore to the political party and the politicians in power and the bureaucracy having joined hands with the politicians by submitting to their dictates, acting together they were determined to drive him out of the office. By order dated 1-10-1999 issued by Shri N. K. Arora, Principal Secretary to Government of Punjab, Department of Local Government, the appellant was informed that although there was doubt in allegations No. 1 and 2 but allegation No. 3 was substantiated and, therefore, the appellant was being removed from the Presidentship of the Municipal Council, Rajpura. The relevant part of the order reads as under : "I have gone through the facts of the case and have given due consideration to the claims and contentions advanced by the noticee on the one hand and the State representative on the other. Even if full benefit of doubt is given to the noticee in regard to allegation Nos. 1 and 2, it is abundantly clear that in regard to allegation No. 3, he has utterly failed to clarify his position. Instead, deep and distinct shadows of doubt and suspicion hover over his head as he has tried to mislead the Government and had patently resorted to falsehood. He clearly mentions in his reply that he had found the fogging machine defective on its official report and had thus ordered its return. There is thus no question for payment of the machine. Facts, however, tell a different story. During the trial run, the machine was found to be okay. The Executive Officer had prepared the cheque and signed the same on 20-11-1998. For over two months, the cheque was not presented to the Bank. Eventually, it was presented on 22-1-1999 and the payment was made. In all fairness, the President should have not distorted the facts and got himself sunk into highly embarrassing situation. One fails to understand why in his reply, he states that the machine was returned and no payment was to be made. One also fails to understand why he kept the cheque in his custody for over 2 months. Circumstantial evidence, therefore, goes deeply against him. It appears to be a case of abuse of power and the conduct of the President is quite unbecoming. Accordingly, Shri Tarlochan Dev Sharma is hereby removed from the Presidentship of the Municipal Council, Rajpura in exercise of powers vested in me under S. 22 of Punjab Municipal Act, 1911."' (Underlining by us) ;