The Punjab Government on Thursday informed the Punjab and Haryana High Court of its intent to withdraw the notification dissolving all gram panchayats in the state.
The matter was being heard by Gurjeet Singh Talwandi, a leader of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), who challenged the notification of the state government dated on August 10.
Vinod Ghai, the Advocate General (AG) of Punjab, while appearing before Chief Justice Ravi Shanker Jha of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, stated that the notification in question would be withdrawn within 2 days.
According to the notification issued on August 10, the Punjab government dissolved all gram panchayats, panchayat samitis, and zila parishads.
As per the provisions of the notification, the elections of members of panchayat samitis and zila parishads were scheduled to occur by November 25, while those for gram panchayats by December 31.
Baltej Singh Sidhu, legal counsel for Talwandi, shared with the media that the AG informed the High Court of the state government’s intention to retract the notification responsible for the dissolution of gram panchayats.
In the state of Punjab, there are 13,241-gram panchayats, 152 block samitis, and 22 zila parishads.
The term of the gram panchayats commenced from the date of their inaugural meeting on January 10, 2019, and concluded on August 10, six months prior to the expiry of their designated term.
The state government maintained that it holds both the constitutional duty and authority to conduct elections for Panchayati Raj Institutions under Section 209 of the Punjab Panchayati Raj Act, 1994. It argued that an election to establish a panchayat must occur before the termination of its tenure or within six months from the date of its dissolution.
It also submitted that the August 10 notification was in accordance with the constitutional provisions.
