- (1.) These are four petitions under Articles 226 of the Constitution of India, challenging the instructions issued by the Secretary to Government of Punjab, Department of Rural Development and Panchayats, on 27th December, 1992, specifying therein the persons who are not entitled to contest as Sarpanch or Panch of the panchayat elections.
(2.) In writ petition No. 522 of 1993, the petitioners are all working as employees of the Punjab Tractors Limited. In writ petition No. 417 of 1993, the petitioner is an employee of the Pepsu Road Transport Corporation. In writ petition No. 419 of 1993, the petitioners are the employees of Punjab State Electricity Board and in writ petition No 883 of 1993, again the petitioner is an employee of the Punjab Tractors Limited. Section 6 of sub-clause (5) of the Punjab Gram Panchayat Act, 1952 , hereinafter referred to as the 'Act') enumerates persons who are not entitled to stand for election as or continue to be a Sarpanch or Panch. The relevant clauses (a) and (g) of sub-section (5) of Section 6 of the Act are quoted below : "(5) No person who- (a) is not a member of the Sabha or is not qualified to be elected as a member of the Legislative Assembly; or (b) xx xx xx (c) xx xx xx (d) xx xx xx (e) xx xx xx (f) xx xx xx (g) is a whole time salaried servant of any local authority or State or the Union of India; or (h) xx xx xx (i) xx xx xx (j) xx xx xx (k) xx xx xx (l) xx xx xx (m) xx xx xx (n) xx xx xx (o) xx xx xx (p) xx xx xx shall be entitled to stand for election as, or continue to be a Sarpanch or Panch : Provided that a member of either house of Parliament or of the Legislature of the Punjab State may be elected as a Sarpanch or Panch if, alongwith his nomination-paper he gives a written undertaking to the effect that he shall resign his membership of either House of Parliament or of the Legislature of the Punjab State as the case may be, and so resigns before taking the oath under Sub-section (1) of Section 9." The instructions which are the subject of challenge dated 27th December, 1992 are quoted below :- "The Secretary to Government of Punjab, Department of Rural Development and Panchayats. All the Deputy Commissioners in the State. Memo No. 6/3/B-I-92/130887-900 Chandigarh, Dated the 27th December, 1992. Subject :- General Election to Gram Panchayats in the State Clarification. "The persons who are not entitled to contest as Sarpanch or Panch in Panchayat Elections have been given in Section 6(b) (g) of the Punjab Gram Panchayat Act, 1952 . Section 6(5)(g) of the Punjab Gram Panchayat Act, 1952 provides as under :- 6(5) No person who xxxxxxx (g) is a whole time salaried servant of any local authority or State or the Union of India; xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx shall be entitled to stand for election or continue to be a Sarpanch or Panch. The opinion of the Law Department was sought as to whether the employees of Boards/Bank/Universities are eligible to contest the Panchayat Elections. The Law Department have opined in this behalf as under :- Following the law laid down in Ajay Hasia v. K.M. Sehravardi, 1981 AIR(SC) 487 , the Corporations/Boards a list of which has been furnished by the Administrative Department can well be covered under the definition of the 'State' under Article 12 of the Constitution of India. The Municipal Committees and the Municipal Corporations are specially covered under the definition of Local Authority. Therefore, employees of these Corporations/Boards/Municipal Committees and Corporations are debarred from contesting election to the Gram panchayat and as such there should be no legal objection if the employees of these agencies are put on election duty. This replies both the questions raised by the Administrative Department.
(3.) According to the above advice the employees of these agencies (list enclosed) are debarred from contesting election to the Gram Panchayats and as such the employees of these agencies to be put on election duty. The above mentioned clarification may be brought to the office of the Returning-cum-Presiding Officers for their Information during the forthcoming Elections to Gram Panchayats. The receipt of this letter may please be acknowledged. Sd/ Additional Director Panchayats for Secretary to Government of Punjab, Department of Rural Development and Panchayats." Along with these instructions, a list has been attached which consists of 56 organisations. The list of Boards/Corporations/Municipalities/Universities is also mentioned below :- "1. Punjab Agro Ind. Corp. 2. Punjab Alk. Chemicals Ltd. 3. Punjab Backward Classes land Dev. & Fin. Corp, 4. Punjab State Co-op Agri. Dev Bank Ltd. 5. Punjab State Co-op Bank. 6. Punjab State Council for Science & Technology, 7. Punjab State Consofed. 8. Elect. Dev. & Irod. Crop. Ltd. 9. Punjab Energy Development Agency. 10. Punjab Ex-Ser. Corp. 11 Punjab Finance Corp. 12. Punjab Development Corporation. 13. Punjab Khadi and Village Industry Board. 14. Govindwal Ind. & Investment Corp. 15. Handloom and Textiles Dev. Corp. Ltd. 16. Punjab Housefed. 17. Punjab State Hosiery and Knitwear Corp. 18. Punjab Housing Development Board. 19. Land Dev. & Reclamation Corp. 20. Punjab Leathra. 21. Land Use and Waste Dev. Board. 22. Markfed. 23. Milkfed. 24. Punjab Mandi Board. 25. Punjab National Fertilizer and Chemicals Ltd. 26. PUNSUP 27. P.C.L. 28. Punjab State Elect. Board. 29. P.S.I.D.C. 30. Punjab Poultry Dev. Corp. 31. P.R.T. Corp. 32. Planning Board 33. Punjab Police Housing Corp. 34. Punjab State Education Board. 35. PUNSEED 36. SPINFED 37. SUGARFED 38. Punjab Seed Corp. Authority. 39. Punjab S.C. Land Dev. & Fin. Corp, 40. Small Ind. & Export Corp. 41. Social Welfare Advisory Board. 42. Punjab Tubewell Corp. 43. Punjab Tractors (Mohali). 44. Punjab Tourism Development Corp. 45. University Text Book Boards. 46. Punjab Warehousing Corp. 47. Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board. 48. Punjab Women & Children Dev. & Welfare Corp. 49. Water Pollution Board. 50. Punjab Wireless System Ltd. 51. WEAVCO 52. Punjab University, Chandigarh. 53. Punjabi University, Patiala. 54. Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana. 55. Guru Nank Dev University, Amritsar; and 56. All the Municipal Corporations and Municipal Committees in the State." 3. After the issue of these instructions, another instruction was issued on 14th January, 1993 by virtue of which it was directed that the employees of the Cooperative Societies in the State are not restrained from contesting the elections of the Panchayats.;