Gram Panchayat Village Vairo Nangal v. State Of Punjab And ORS

IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT

CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No.21791 of 2015 Date of Decision: October 12, 2015 Gram Panchayat, Village Vairo Nangal ....Petitioner versus State of Punjab and others .....Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE SURYA KANT.

HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE P.B.BAJANTHRI.

Present: Mr.B.S.Randhawa, Advocate, for the petitioner. Mr.Rajesh Bhardwaj, Additional AG, Punjab.

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1. Whether Reporters of Local papers may be allowed to see the judgment?

2. To be referred to the Reporters or not?

3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? --- Surya Kant, J. (Oral) Notice of motion to respondent Nos.1 to 5 only at this stage.

On our asking, Mr.Rajesh Bhardwaj, learned Additional Advocate General, Punjab, accepts notice on their behalf.

Let five copies of the writ petition be supplied to the State counsel during the course of day failing which this order shall be automatically recalled and the writ petition shall be deemed to have been dismissed for non-prosecution. In view of the nature of order which we propose to pass, it is not necessary to seek any counter-reply from respondent Nos.1 to 5 or to serve respondent Nos.6 & 7 at this stage as no order prejudicial to their interest is being passed. The Gram Panchayat of village Vairo Nangal, Block Batala, District Gurdaspur has approached this Court with a MOHINDER KUMAR 2015.11.02 11:35 I attest to the accuracy and authenticity of this document Chandigarh

CWP No.21791 of 2015 [2] strange prayer. It is claimed that Gram Panchayat land measuring 6 kanal was leased out through a public auction to one Iqbal Singh son of Gurnam Singh for Rs.15,600/- but the Panchayat Secretary, namely, respondent No.6 on the very next day unauthorizely accepted a sum of Rs.16,000/- from respondent No.7 for that very land.

The grievance, if any, ought to have been expressed by Iqbal Singh and not by the Gram Panchayat who has got a higher bid for the same land. What it appears is that auction earlier got conducted by the BDPO, Batala, as well as the manner in which the Panchayat Secretary has accepted the bid amount, both require a probe by the authorities. We thus, dispose of this writ petition with a direction to the Deputy Commissioner, Gurdaspur to hold a fact-finding enquiry and ensure that the Gram Panchayat land is leased out in a transparent manner and it must fetch maximum revenue through a bid where all the interested persons are required to participate. If an enquiury has already been entrusted and/or got done, the Deputy Commissioner will proceed further in accordance with that report, within a period of two months from the date of receiving a certified copy of this order. Ordered accordingly.

Dasti.

[SURYA KANT] JUDGE October 12, 2015 [P.B.BAJANTHRI] mohinder JUDGE MOHINDER KUMAR 2015.11.02 11:35 I attest to the accuracy and authenticity of this document Chandigarh