- (1.) Sections 21 and 35 of the Punjab Panchayat Samitis and Zila Parishads Act, 1961, in so far as they are relevant for the purposes of this appeal are as follows :- "21. Executive Officer and Deputy Executive Officer of Panchayat Samitis. - (1) Where a Panchayat Samiti is constituted for a block, Block Development Officer shall be the ex officio Executive Officer of Panchayat Samiti and where it is constituted for a tehsil there shall be a whole time Executive Officer, who shall be appointed by the Government. (2) The Executive Officer shall be under the administrative control of the Panchayat Samiti and his conditions of service shall be those which are applicable to the class of Government servants to which he belongs. (3) to (6) x x x x x x x x 35. Government servants to be placed at the disposal of Panchayat Samitis. - The Government may by notification place at the disposal of a Panchayat Samiti such of its servants as are required for implementation of the schemes connected therewith and for such other duties and functions as may be assigned to them by the Panchayat Samiti from time to time. (2) The aforesaid servants shall thereafter be under the Administrative control of the Executive Officer of Panchayat Samiti. (3) The conditions of service of the aforesaid servants shall be the conditions of service applicable to the class of Government Servants to which they belong and the provisions of Section 34 shall not be applicable to them provided that the Panchayat Samiti shall, in respect of these servants, exercise such administrative and disciplinary powers as may be delegated to it by the Government and shall also have the power to transfer them within the area of its jurisdiction in the manner prescribed."
(2.) Now, on 17th September, 1971, purporting to exercise the powers conferred by Section 35(3), the Government, by order, laid down the extent of administrative control exercisable by various authorities over the officials whose services were placed at the disposal of Panchayat Samitis by various departments of the Government under Section 35(1). Entries 50, 51, 52 and 54 of the Order prescribe the Deputy Commissioner as the authority competent to : (a) restrict the duration and frequency of tour, (b) to permit exchange of daily allowance for mileage allowance during the whole period of tour, (c) to disallow P.F.R. allowance for a journey to attend an obligatory examination etc., and (d) to countersign T.A. Bills, in regard to Block Development and Panchayat Officers. The Government also issued letter No. 1826-SBH-III-71/5647, directing that henceforth the second confidential reports on the work and conduct of Block Development and Panchayat Officers should be written by Sub-Divisional Officers after the same had been initiated by the Chairman, Panchayat Samitis and thereafter forwarded to the Deputy Commissioner. By letter No. 22343-EI-CD-72/5851, a time table was also fixed for the writing of the confidential reports.
(3.) Alleging that these orders and instructions of the Government encroached upon the administrative control vested in the Panchayat Samitis, the Panchayat Samiti, Machhiwara, filed C.W.P. No. 3970 of 1972 for the issue of an appropriate writ to protect its statutory right. A learned Single Judge of this court accepted the writ petition and quashed items 50, 51, 52 and 54 of the Order dated 17th September, 1971, as also the instructions contained in the other two letters relating to the Executive Officers. The Secretary to Government, Punjab, Development Department and others have preferred this appeal.;