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Dissolution of gram panchayats: Punjab ropes in ex-AG Ashok Aggarwal to defend case
The Punjab government has roped in former advocate general Ashok Aggarwal to defend its action of dissolving panchayats in the state before the Punjab and Haryana high court
Chandigarh : The Punjab government has roped in former advocate general Ashok Aggarwal to defend its action of dissolving panchayats in the state before the Punjab and Haryana high court.
A senior advocate, Aggarwal remained AG during SAD-BJP regime in the state.
Along with AG, Vinod Ghai, the former advocate general also appeared before the high court on Tuesday. However, the hearing was deferred for August 31 by high court bench of justice Raj Mohan Singh and Harpreet Singh Brar.
The pleas filed on August 17 were from Balwinder Singh and others and one Sarabjit Singh, all elected panchayat representatives, who have challenged the government notification of August 10 on dissolution and declaration of elections of the members of gram panchayats, panchayat samitis and zila parishad under the Panchayati Raj Act.
The election is slated to be held on December 31. The pleas argued that all the gram panchayats had been wrongly and illegally been dissolved before the expiry of the tenure/term of the elected representatives.
Meanwhile, a fresh plea has been filed by Gurjeet Singh Talwandi, general secretary of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) by way of a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging government action. It was taken up by the bench of chief justice RS Jha but the hearing was deferred for August 31.
