SATISH KUMAR MITTAL,J - (1.) PETITIONER Karnail Kaur has filed this petition for quashing the Resolution dated 23.6.2008 vide which Satnam Kaur-respondent No. 7 has been elected as Chairman of Panchayat Samiti, Bassi Pathana, District Fatehgarh Sahib.
(2.) THE Panchayat Samiti, Bassi Pathana consists of 15 Zones from where one Member for each Zone was elected as per the reservation made by the government as depicted in Annexure P-1. The petitioner was representing Jodhpur Zone which was reserved for Scheduled Caste (Woman). It is the case of the petitioner that the office of Chairman of Panchayat Samiti, Bassi Pathana was reserved for Scheduled Caste (Woman) as per the notification dated 14.05.2008 issued by the State Government. All the 15 Members of the Panchayat Samiti, who were from different Zones, were to elect the Chairman of the Panchayat Samiti. It is further the case of the petitioner that Smt. Satnam Kaur-respondent No. 7 was not eligible to contest the election for the office of Chairman of Panchayat Samiti, Bassi Pathana because she was declared elected as Member from Himmatpura Zone, which was reserved for Woman and not for Scheduled Caste (Woman) category. It is the case of the petitioner that only a Member of the Zone, who has been elected against the reserved category of Scheduled Caste (Woman), can contest the election for the office of Chairman of Panchayat Samiti, Bassi Pathana. According to the petitioner, only two Members, who were coming from two zones, namely, Jodhpur and Kandipur, were eligible to contest the election as both the Zones were reserved for Scheduled Caste (Woman) and from those two Zones, there are only two women of Scheduled Caste category, including the petitioner, who are the Members of Panchayat Samiti, Bassi Pathana.
(3.) IN nutshell, the contention of the counsel for the petitioner is that only those Members of Panchayat Samiti, Bassi Pathana, who have been elected from Jodhpur and Kandipur Zones, which were reserved for the category of Scheduled Caste (Woman), were eligible to contest the election for the office of Chairman, but in the meeting held on 23.6.2008, respondent No. 7, who became Member of Panchayat Samiti, Bassi Pathana from Himmatpura Zone, which was reserved for Woman, has been wrongly elected as Chairman.;