Nov - High Court of Judicature at Allahabad

1076 INDIAN LAW REPORTS ALLAHABAD SERIES [2009
13. A Nagar Panchayat under
Art.243 (Q) of the Constitution of India is
a local body of a transitional area, in
transition from a rural area to an urban
area to which the elections are held in
accordance with the procedure prescribed
in the U.P. Municipalities Act, 1916. The
Chairman is elected directly and that his
term is coterminous with the term of the
Nagar Panchayt. He may resign in writing
to the State Government and can be
removed, under Section 48, where the
State Government has at any time reason
to believe that (a) there has been a failure
on the part of the President in performing
his duties or that he is under clause (b)
incurred any of the disqualification or
conducted himself in a manner provided
in the fifteen clauses of Clause (b) of subsection
(2) of Section 48. The proceedings
for removal must serve the principle of
nature justice and that decision must show
that the authority had applied its mind to
the allegations made, the explanation
furnished and the material produced by
the elected representative.
14. The elected public representative
of local body is accountable to his
electorate. His removal by the State
Government has serious consequence as
the people, who had elected him, loose
their voice to be represented by him. The
power of judicial review, in such matters
is limited but has to be exercised with
caution. An elected representative should
ordinarily be allowed to complete his term
for which he is elected. If the State
Government wants to curtail the term on
any of the ground given in Section 48 (2)
(b) of the Act, there must be a complaint
on which a preliminary enquiry is made,
and that material collected during the
enquiry must be put to the elected
representative in the form of specific
charge. The burden of proving such
charges is upon the complainant. The
charges must be specific and must contain
all the details to submit effective reply.
The findings must not only be based on
material but should also relate to the
grounds given in detail in Section 48 (2)
(b) of the Act. The State Government
must consider and after enquiries serving
the principles of natural justice find with
reasons to be recorded in writing that the
allegations are sufficiently serious to
remove him from the elected office. The
proviso to sub-section (2) (A) provides
that where the State Government has
issued notice in respect of any of the
grounds in clause (a) or sub-clause (ii),
(iii), (iv), (vi), (vii) and (viii) of Clause
(b) and sub-section (2), it may instead of
removing him, given him a warning.
15. In the present case the charge
No.1 against the petitioner did not fall in
any of the clauses for removing the
Chairman under Section 48 (2) of the Act.
The disclosure of the pendency of the
case, at the time of contesting the
elections is a matter of incurring
disqualification for contesting the
elections with an object to inform the
electorate as well as to verify whether the
person is qualified to contest the election
of the President. Such a charge will not
fall within the meaning of the ground in
Section 48 (2) (b) (i), which provides for
incurring any disqualification mentioned
in Section 12-D and 43 (aa) of the Act.
Section 12-D of the Act provides for
disqualification for registration in an
electoral roll, such as the person is not a
citizen of India or is of unsound mind,
and so declared by the competent court or
is for the time being disqualified from
voting under the provisions of any law
relating to corrupt practice and other