SATISH KUMAR MITTAL, J. - (1.) SIX out of seven elected members of Gram Panchayat of Village Rampura, Block Verka, District Amritsar, have filed this writ petition under Articles 226/227 of the Constitution of India for issuance of a writ in the nature of Certiorari for quashing the corrigendum dated 23.6.2008 (published in the Punjab Government Gazette dated 24.6.2008), issued by the Deputy Commissioner, Amritsar (respondent No. 3 herein), whereby the reservation for the office of Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat of Village Rampura, Block Verka has been changed from 'Women' to 'Scheduled Caste', being illegal, arbitrary and mala fide; with a further prayer for issuing direction to the respondents to hold the election for the office of Sarpanch of the said Gram Panchayat after restoring the office of Sarpanch to the category of 'Women', which was so reserved in the previous Notification dated 8.5.2008 published in the Punjab Government Gazette dated 14.5.2008.
(2.) VILLAGE Rampura falls in Block Verka (District Amritsar) which consists of 94 villages, including village Hair. As per notification issued under Section 10 of the Punjab Panchayati Raj Act (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act'), Gram Panchayat of Village Rampura consists of seven Members (Panches). Vide notification dated 12.2.2008 issued under Section 11 of the Act, out of seven seats of Panches, two seats were reserved for General Category, one seat for Scheduled Caste (Woman), three seats for Scheduled Castes and one seat for Woman. Vide notification dated 8.5.2008 issued by the Deputy Commissioner (as published in the Punjab Government Gazette dated 14.5.2008), the Offices of Sarpanches of all the 94 villages of Block Verka were reserved for different categories for block-wise as per the provisions of Section 12 of the Act read with Rule 3 of the Punjab Reservation for the Offices of Sarpanches of Gram Panchayats and Chairman and Vice Chairmen of Panchayat Samitis and Zila Parishads Rules, 1994 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Rules'). As per this notification, the office of Sarpanch of village Rampura, Block Verka has been reserved for the category of 'Women' and the office of Sarpanch of village Hair was reserved for the category of 'Scheduled Caste'. Thereafter, the election of the Gram Panchayat of village Rampura was held on 26.5.2008. The six petitioners along with one Lat Singh were elected as Panches of the Gram Panchayat. As per Section 13-A of the Act, after notification of the election of Panches, the Deputy Commissioner is required to authorize any officer or official of the State Government for convening the first meeting of the Gram Panchayat for the election of Sarpanch amongst the Members of the Gram Panchayat as per the reservation notified under Section 12 of the Act. Suddenly before convening of the first meeting and the election of the Sarpanch, on 23.6.2008, Deputy Commissioner, Amritsar (respondent No. 3 herein) issued a corrigendum (published in Punjab Government Gazette dated 24.6.2008) under Section 12 of the Act read with Rule 3 of the Rules changing the reservation of the office of village Rampura from the category of 'Women' to 'Scheduled Caste'. Vide this notification, the office of Sarpanch of village Hair has also been changed from 'Scheduled Caste' to 'General Category'. Immediately, on 4.7.2008, the petitioners filed this petition challenging the said action of the Deputy Commissioner, being illegal, arbitrary and mala fide.
(3.) AFTER notice of motion, on 14.7.2008, the following interim order was passed by this Court :- "In the meanwhile, the constitution of the Panchayat and the election of the Sarpanch shall be subject to the final decision of this petition.";