S.B. Shukre, J. - (1.) Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. Heard finally by consent.
(2.) The requirement of Section 14(1)(j-5) of the Maharashtra Village Panchayats Act (hereinafter referred to as the "Act" for short) is that at the time of submission of the nomination paper, a candidate must submit a certificate of the concerned Panchayat accompanied by a resolution of the Gram Sabha certifying that the candidate resides in a house owned by him and has a toilet in such house, which he/she regularly uses or a candidate resides in a house not owned by him, but has a toilet which is regularly used by him or it is not regularly used by him but some other public toilet is regularly used by him. In other words, the nomination form must be accompanied by two documents, namely, a certificate of the concerned Panchayat and a resolution of the concerned Gram Sabha certifying what is contemplated under this provision of law. If the nomination form is filed without both or any one of these documents, it would be an incomplete nomination form. This is also the view taken by the learned Single Judge of this Court in the case of Vijay Ramchandra Raut & others vs. Divisional Commissioner & others, 2015 1 BCR 766. This is, however, disputed by the learned Counsel for respondent Nos.4 & 5. According to him, this was not the ratio of this case. However, on going through the observations made in paragraph 7 of this judgment, I find that the view has been taken in a no uncertain terms that the petitioners in that case were required to produce a certificate of the concerned Gram Panchayat along with the resolution of the Gram Sabha certifying what is required under Section 14(1)(j-5) of the Act. Therefore, it cannot be said that there is no expression of view as referred to earlier in the case of Vijay Ramchandra Raut .
(3.) In the present case, at the time of filing of the nomination forms, a certificate of the concerned Gram Panchayat as contemplated under Section 14(1)(J-5) of the Act was indeed filed. I have gone through this certificate, a copy of which is available in the paper book. The certificate issued fulfills one of the requirements of Section 14(1)(j-5) of the Act. But, the nomination forms were not accompanied by the resolutions of the Gram Sabha. The nomination forms not being filed along with Gram Sabha resolutions is a fact not in dispute. What is in dispute is whether such Gram Sabha resolution is mandatorily required to be filed along with the certificate of the concerned Gram Panchayat or not.;