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Punjab to withdraw notification on dissolution of panchayats
State advocate general said elections will be held by year-end but notification on dissolution of panchayats will be withdrawn.
The Punjab government on Thursday told the Punjab and Haryana high court that it would withdraw its notification on dissolution of panchayats.
State advocate general Vinod Ghai told the high court bench of chief justice RS Jha and justice Arun Palli that the elections would be held by the year-end but the notification on the dissolution of panchayats would be withdrawn.
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The submissions were made during the resumed hearing on a public interest litigation (PIL) in which Gurjeet Singh Talwandi, a Shiromani Akali Dal general secretary, had challenged the notification.
On August 10, the state government had notified the dissolution of panchayats and declared elections of the members of gram panchayats, panchayat samitis and zila parishad under the Panchayati Raj Act. The election for panchayats were to be held on December 31.
In view of the AG’s statement, the court has disposed of the PIL.
On August 17, panchayat members and zila parishad representatives had also challenged the August 10 notification. Those petitions are pending adjudication before a coordinate bench.
In those petitions, the government had said that there are ₹1,000 crore in the bank accounts of gram panchayats and there was a “reasonable apprehension that this precious public money can be misutilised or unnecessarily utilised to lure residents of the village for personal gain” by elected panchayat representatives.
Hence, in public interest, charge of the same was taken and would be handed over to the newly elected panchayats for developmental activities.
The government has asserted that it has the constitutional duty and the power to hold the general election of panchayati raj institutions under Section 209 of the Punjab Panchayati Raj Act, 1994. The August 10 notification is in accordance with constitutional provisions.
The term of gram panchayats has been taken from the date of its first meeting on January 10, 2019, and these have been dissolved on August 10, 2023, i.e. within six months before the expiry of the term, it had said, referring to previous such exercises. The government has told the court that gram panchayats were dissolved on July 16, 2018, for the elections held on December 30, 2018. Therefore, even past precedent suggests the same criteria, which has been followed now, it added.
The state has 13,241 gram panchayats, 22 zila parishads and 152 panchayat samitis. The government is also likely to withdraw the notification of dissolution of zila parishads and panchayat samitis, for which polls are to be held on November 25. The statement regarding the same could be made before the coordinate bench, where the August 10 notification was challenged on August 17.
