Ramu Ram S/o Shri Lakha Ram v. State of Rajasthan through its Principal Secretary, Department of Panchayati Raj
2017-03-25
SANGEET LODHA
body2017
DigiLaw.ai
ORDER : Sangeet Lodha, J. 1. By way of this writ petition, the petitioners have questioned the legality of the order dated 30.9.2016 issued by the District Collector, Nagaur, allotting the land measuring 0.8100 hectare out of 4.53 hectare land comprising khasra no.86 situated at village Gundisar for construction of building of Gram Panchayat, Gundisar. That apart, the petitioners have also challenged financial sanction issued by the District Programme Coordinator (EGS) vide order dated 7.1.2017, for construction of the building. 2. The facts relevant are that the Gram Panchayat, Langod was consisting of three villages namely, Langod, Gundisar and Noond. The local area of village Langod was excluded from Gram Panchayat Circle Langod and included in the territorial limit of newly constituted Municipal Board, Degana and accordingly, a new Gram Panchayat, Gundisar consisting of the villages Gundisar and Noond was proposed to be constituted. In this regard, the District Collector issued one month's notice as mandated under subsection (1) of Section 101 of the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Act, 1994 (for short the Act). The residents of village Noond including the petitioners filed objections wherein the constitution of the Gram Panchayat as aforesaid was not objected to rather, the petitioners demanded that the headquarter of the Gram Panchayat should be established at Noond. The Gram Panchayat, Gundisar was constituted as proposed. The head quarter of Gram Panchayat was kept at village Gundisar. The petitioners made representations for establishing the head quarter of the Gram Panchayat at Noond but to no avail. Later, vide order dated 30.9.16, the land was allotted for construction of the building of Gram Panchayat at Gundisar and financial sanction for the said purpose was issued vide order dated 7.1.17 as aforesaid. Hence, this petition. 3. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioners contended that the objections were invited by the State Government by issuing notice under Section 101 against the constitution of the Gram Panchayat as proposed, however, the objections raised were not considered and straight away the notification constituting the Gram Panchayat was issued. Learned counsel submitted that the village Noond has larger population and facilities available and thus, the village Noond is best suited for the headquarter of the Gram Panchayat, Gundisar.
Learned counsel submitted that the village Noond has larger population and facilities available and thus, the village Noond is best suited for the headquarter of the Gram Panchayat, Gundisar. Learned counsel submitted that for the construction of the building of Gram Panchayat, adequate Government land is also available at Noond and thus, the action of the respondents in establishing the headquarter of Gram Panchayat at Gundisar is ex facie illegal and arbitrary. 4. I have considered the submissions of the learned counsel and perused the material on record. 5. It is to be noticed that in response to the notice issued under sub-section (1) of Section 101 of the Act, the petitioners, residents of village Noond, had not objected the constitution of the Gram Panchayat as proposed rather, they demanded that the headquarter of the Gram Panchayat, Gundisar should be established at Noond and not at Gundisar. Admittedly, the Gram Panchayat has been constituted as proposed and the notification constituting the Gram Panchayat is not impugned in the present writ petition. So far as the decision of the State Government in establishing the headquarter of Gram Panchayat at Gundisar is concerned, in the considered opinion of this court, the matter with regard to the establishment of headquarter of any Gram Panchayat at particular place is required to be dealt with exclusively by the State Government taking into consideration the relevant aspects including the convenience of the residents of the local area and the same cannot be generally interfered with by this court in exercise of its extra ordinary jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. 6. The proportion of population of different villages constituting the Gram Panchayat or larger population of a particular village cannot be the sole criteria for determining the matter with regard to establishment of headquarter of Gram Panchayat. Moreover, a perusal of the population details placed on record by the petitioners reveal that there is no much difference in the population of two villages namely, Gundisar and Noond. The population of Gundisar is shown to be 1554 whereas, population of village Noond is shown as 1606.
Moreover, a perusal of the population details placed on record by the petitioners reveal that there is no much difference in the population of two villages namely, Gundisar and Noond. The population of Gundisar is shown to be 1554 whereas, population of village Noond is shown as 1606. Regarding the availability of the Government land for establishment of the building of Gram Panchayat, it is to be noticed that for the purpose of construction of the building, the land allotted by the District Collector is the Government land only and thus, the availability of the Government land in the village Noond for construction of the building of Gram Panchayat is also not relevant. Suffice it to say that there is no material brought on record suggesting that the decision of the State Government in establishing the headquarter of Gram Panchayat at Gundisar is capricious. 7. For the aforementioned reasons, the writ petition is devoid of any merit and deserves to be dismissed. 8. Accordingly, the writ petition is dismissed in limine.