HC sets aside Gadchiroli Collector’s order declaring Gatta Gram Panchayat term over

The controversy arose during disqualification proceedings against certain members of the Panchayat.

In the course of those proceedings, the Collector observed that the five-year term of the Gram Panchayat had expired on February 26, 2023, calculating the tenure from the election notification issued in January 2018. On that basis, the Panchayat was treated as dissolved and an Administrator was appointed to manage its affairs.

Challenging the order, the petitioner argued that although the election process had commenced in 2018, the Panchayat could not be formally constituted then due to lack of quorum (minimum number of officers or members of a body that is required to be present at a given meeting). Only six of the 11 members were elected unopposed, which was insufficient to convene the first meeting. Vacancies were subsequently filled through by-elections.

Counsel for the petitioner submitted that as per the Maharashtra Village Panchayats Act, the duration of a Panchayat is five years “from the date appointed for its first meeting”.

Records placed before the court showed that the first valid meeting of Gram Panchayat Gatta was held on February 17, 2021. Therefore, the petitioner contended that its tenure would continue until February 16, 2026.

Accepting this submission, the court observed that there was no dispute regarding the date of the first meeting and that the Collector’s declaration was contrary to the statutory provisions governing Panchayat tenure.

“The declaration made by the respondent No. 2 (Collector) about tenure of the Gram Panchayat Gatta having come to an end on 26.02.2023 is without any basis and unsustainable,” the court held.

Speaking in Nagpur during a press conference on Thursday, Sarpanch Poonam Komati Lekamni said, “I was serving as the Sarpanch in Gatta in Gadchiroli in 2021. There was very little awareness about the elections there, and the members were not informed that caste validity certificates had to be submitted within one year. I was also never informed by the Collector about this requirement.”