The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has summoned the state government in a PIL challenging the legality of deployment of administrators in gram panchayats. Issuing notice to Advocate General Raghavendra Singh on January 20, the division bench of Chief Justice Govind Mathur and Justice Ramesh Sinha sought a counter affidavit.
The division bench passed the order on the PIL of Panchayat Raj Gram Pradhan Sangathan through its General Secretary Suresh Kumar. In this, the deployment of administrators in the gram panchayats after the end of their tenure is being called a violation of the constitutional provision.
According to Chandra Bhushan Pandey, petitioner’s advocate, the State Government enacted the UP Panchayat Raj Act by an ordinance in 2000. Its Section 12 (3) (a) stated that after the term ends, the government can appoint an administration committee or administrator in the panchayats.
However, the bench of the High Court dismissed the ordinance as unconstitutional. In such a situation, the State Government does not have the right to appoint administrators. Under Article 243 (e) of the Constitution, the tenure of panchayats cannot be extended beyond 5 years.
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