Maharashtra Village Panchayats Act| Immunity To Sarpanch Against No-Confidence Motion To Be Counted From Date Of First Election Of First Sarpanch: Bombay HC
|The Bombay High Court has held that the two-year immunity against no-confidence motions given to a Sarpanch under the Maharashtra Village Panchayats Act is to be calculated from the date of election of the first Sarpanch and not from the date when a subsequent Sarpanch is elected to fill a vacancy that arose out of disablement, death, resignation, disqualification or the like.
The Court was hearing a Writ Petition filed by the Sarpanch of a village panchayat against whom a no-confidence motion was carried after the previously elected Sarpanch resigned from the post. The question before the Court was whether the immunity of two years granted under a state law against no-confidence motion is to be computed from the date of election of the first Sarpanch or from the date when the new Sarpanch is elected.
A Single-Judge Bench Justice Sharmila U. Deshmukh held, "Before this Court, the submissions were confined to the commencement point of period of two years for grant of immunity. In light of the discussion above, the words “date of election” occurring in the 4th proviso to Sub Section (3) of Section 35 being situation specific and not person specific, the immunity granted is qua the post and not qua the person and would therefore mean the date of election of first Sarpanch and not the date of election of last elected Sarpanch. The period of two years would therefore have to be reckoned from date of election of first Sarpanch."
Senior Advocate P. S. Dani appeared for the Petitioner and Additional Government Pleader R.S. Pawar appeared for the Respondents.
The provision under consideration was the fourth proviso to Section 35(3) of the Maharashtra Village Panchayats Act, 1958 which provides that “no such motion of no-confidence shall be moved within a period of two years from the date of election of Sarpanch or Upa-Sarpanch and before six months preceding the date on which the term of Panchayat expires.”
The Petitioner argued that the phrase “from the date of election” referred to the date on which a person assumes office. He submitted that what is crucial is the date of entering office and it cannot be assumed that the date of election would be the date of election of the first Sarpanch.
The Respondents submitted that the immunity against no-confidence motion is is only for a period of two years from the date of first election. It was submitted that acceptance of the Petitioner’s interpretation would render the statutory provisions meaningless as in that eventuality the second Sarpanch will enjoy the immunity and before the expiry of two years can again resign and third person can occupy his place and immunity will continue.
On January 15, 2021 elections were held for a village panchayat in Pune district. On February 9, a person was elected as Sarpanch. On November 29, he resigned from the post of Sarpanch and on December 27 the Petitioner was elected unopposed as the Sarpanch of the Village Panchayat.
Around two years later, on December 13, 2023, a no-confidence motion was moved against the Petitioner. A meeting was convened and on December 19, the motion of no confidence was carried against the Petitioner.
The Court noted that if the period of immunity of two years is counted from the election of the first Sarpanch, the immunity would expire in February 2023, but if calculated from the date of election of the Petitioner, would end in December 2023.
Taking a literal interpretation of the provision, the Court said the words “date of election” indicates that the words are situation specific and not person specific. For the words to be person specific, the reference would be to “his/her election” or “the date he/she assumes office” or “the date when he/she takes charge”, the Court said.
Providing further illustrations on possible wording of the provision, the Court said, "The statute if worded as 'Provided also, that no such motion of no confidence shall be moved within a period of two years from the date he assumes charge as Sarpanch or Upa Sarpanch and before six months preceding the date on which the term of Panchayat expires', would have left no manner of doubt that person avails immunity for two years from the date he enters office."
"Contrast this with the present words of the statute makes it evident that the same is situation specific and is qua the post and not qua the person. The absence of the person specific words, in my opinion, makes it evident that the immunity is co-terminus with the post and not the person and that being so, the date of election would mean date of first election to that post." the Court concluded.
Cause Title: Charushila Bira Shriram v. State of Maharashtra And Ors. [2025:BHC-AS:121]
Appearance:
Petitioner: Senior Advocate P. S. Dani and Advocate Veerdhaval Kakade
Respondents: Additional Government Pleader R.S. Pawar, Senior Advocate A. V. Anturkar, Advocates Prathamesh Bhargude and Harshavardhan B. Suryawanshi