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2014 DIGILAW 377 (UTT)

Dhandesh Uniyal v. State of Uttarakhand

2014-09-12

ALOK SINGH

body2014
JUDGMENT : Alok Singh, J. Undisputedly, wife of the petitioner and respondent no. 5 contested election of Gram Pradhan of Village Harbertpur, District Dehradun; wherein respondent no. 5 was elected as Gram Pradhan; election petition was filed by the wife of the petitioner, wherein one of the ground is that respondent no. 5 does not belong to O.B.C., therefore, his nomination ought to have been rejected since he is not competent to contest election of Gram Pradhan against the reserved O.B.C. seat; such Election Petition is still pending disposal. Now, the petitioner wants to take shortcut by abusing the process of law seeking mandamus to the authorities to hold inquiry about the caste of respondent no. 5 and to cancel his O.B.C. certificate and to declare respondent no. 5 wrongly and illegally elected. Hon’ble Apex Court in the case of Consumer Education and Research Society vs. Union of India and others, reported in 2009 (9) S.C.C. 648 , in paragraph no. 74, has held, if the Returning Officer accepts the nomination and if no Election Petition is filed challenging the election, then he/she would continue as a Member in spite of the disqualification. In my considered opinion, if nomination paper is accepted considering respondent no. 5 belongs to O.B.C., he can be removed from the office of the elected Gram Pradhan only by way of Election Petition and he cannot be removed on the basis of inquiry on the administrative side saying that in fact he does not belong to O.B.C. Therefore, authorities have rightly declined to hold inquiry against Respondent No. 5 during the pendency of the Election Petition. Consequently, writ petition fails and is hereby dismissed.