Arindam Mukherjee - (1.) The Appeal is at the instance of Nasir Hassan, the respondent No.6 in the writ petition. The Appellant claims to be as a "leader" under the provisions of section 213A(3) of the West Bengal Panchayat Act, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as said Act). The Appellant assails a portion of an order dated 30th January, 2019 by which WP No.1407(W) of 2019 (Renuka Khatun Bibi -Vs- The State of West Bengal & Ors.) was finally disposed of. By the said order, the learned Single Judge had set aside the order of disqualification of Renuka Khatun Bibi, the writ petitioner, made under the provisions of section 213A(1)(a)(ii) of the said Act by the District Panchayat and Rural Development Officer, Cooch Behar being the Appellate Authority under the provisions of section 213A(12) of the said Act. The writ Petitioner is the respondent No.1 in the instant appeal. The respondent Nos. 2 to 5 are the respectively the State of West Bengal, the Director of Panchayat and Rural Development Department, West Bengal, being the Appellate Authority and the Block Development Officer, Dinhata-I Block being the Prescribed Authority (under the provisions of section 213A(1) of the said Act). The respondent No.6 is the Okrabari Gram Panchayat being the concerned Panchayat in which the respondent No.1/writ petitioner has been elected as the Pradhan.
(2.) The facts of the case for the convenience of understanding is briefly set out hereunder:- i) Okrabari Gram Panchayat has 22 elected members. Out of such 22 members, 13 members are elected with party affiliation of All India Trinamul Congress (for short "AITC"), the rest 9 members are elected as independent candidates. ii) The wit petitioner/respondent No.1 is one of the elected candidates affiliated to AITC. The Appellant claims to be the "leader" of AITC in the said Gram Panchayat in terms of provisions of section 213A(3) of the said Act. iii) It is the case of the Appellant that he was appointed as a "leader" in a meeting held on 16th August, 2018 by the elected members affiliated to AITC. In the said meeting Renuka Khatun, (respondent No.1/writ petitioner), Prithwish Roy Singha (hereinafter referred to as Prithwish) and Popi Barman (also referred to as Papi Burman in some places, hereinafter referred to as Popi) being the 3 elected members affiliated to AITC were, however, not present. iv) On 28th August, 2018, the election of the Pradhan and Upa-Pradhan of the Gram Panchayat was held at around 11:00 A.M pursuant to a valid notice. In the election, except Renuka Khatun Bibi (respondent No.1/writ petitioner), Prithwish and Popi, all other 10 elected members affiliated to AITC voted in favour of Rahenea Bibi as Pradhan and Sahiruddin Miah as Upa-Pradhan. Renuka Khatun Bibi had cast her vote in favour of herself in respect of the Pradhan while she abstained from voting in respect of Upa Pradhan. Prithwish and Popi voted in favour of Renuka Khatun for the post of Pradhan and in favour of one Milan Sarkar for the post of Upa-Pradhan. v) It is the case of the Appellant that Renuka Khatun, Prithwish and Popi have "exercised the voting right contrary to the manner of the voting of the majority members set up by such recognized political party in such Panchayat" and have, therefore, disqualified themselves as an elected member of the Panchayat under the provisions of section 213A(1) and (2) of the said Act. vi) The Appellant as the "leader" of AITC in Okrabari Gram Panchayat filed an application before the Block Development Officer, Dinhata-I, being the Prescribed Authority under section 213A of the said Act. The said application was filed under the provisions of section 213A(7) of the said Act seeking disqualification of Renuka Khatun, Prithwish and Popi. vii) As submitted by the appellant, Renuka Khatun was elected as the Pradhan on receiving 12 votes i.e. 9 votes from the independent candidates and 2 votes from Prithwish and Popi respectively and her own vote.
(3.) Before the Prescribed Authority, the Appellant submitted that by a letter dated 25th August, 2018, the elected members affiliated to AITC were informed about the decision to vote in favour of Rahenea Bibi as "Pradhan" and Sahiruddin Miah as "Upa-Pradhan". Renuka, Prithwish and Popi have violated the same which amounts to voting contrary to the manner of voting of the majority members of AITC. The Prescribed Authority found that the contents of the letter said to have been issued on 25th August, 2018 was not clear. The service of the said letter dated 25th August, 2018 on Renuka Khatun, Prithwish and Popi whatever may be the contents thereof was not proved. In the absence of such voting pattern of the majority being made known to either Renuka or Prithwish or Popi such members, according to the Prescribed Authority cannot be said to have the knowledge of the fact that the elected members affiliated to AITC had decided to vote in favour of Rahenea Bibi as Pradhan and Sahiruddin Miah as Upa-Pradhan. According to the Prescribed Authority in absence of such knowledge it cannot be said that the said 3 persons had "exercised the voting right contrary to the manner of the voting of the majority members set up by such recognized political party in such Panchayat".;