Ram Ashish v. State of U.P. and 4 Others

Court No. - 6 Case :- WRIT - C No. - 39053 of 2023 Petitioner :- Ram Ashish Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 4 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Anjali Singh Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C. Hon'ble Mrs. Manju Rani Chauhan,J. Heard Ms. Anjali Singh, learned counsel for the petitioner and learned Standing Counsel for the State-respondents. The writ petition has been filed with a prayer to direct respondent no.2-Director Panchayati Raj, Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow to decide the application of petitioner dated

18.10.2023 pending before him within stipulated period. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner contested in the panchayat elections of the years 2021 for the post of Pradhan in which Zafrul Haq son Nizamul Haq was declared as a winning candidate. Petitioner was the defeated candidate in the elections who held second position and one Sameer Maurya who got third position, filed an election petition in which by order dated 24.07.2023 the election of winning candidae Zafrul Haq was declared null and void, therefore he moved an application before several authorities including respondent no.2-Director Panchayati Raj, Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow requesting for re-conducting the elections of the concerned gram panchayat, but nothing has been done till date. Learned Standing Counsel submits that from the averments in the petition, there is no whisper as to whether order vide which the elections of the winning candidate was declared null and void has been challenged by way of revision or not. Even otherwise, the writ petition has been filed with a single prayer to direct the respondent no.2 to decide the application of the petitioner, which is not maintainable. In support of his contention, he relied upon the judgment of the Apex Court in the case of A.P.S.R.T.C. & Ors. vs. G. Srinivas Reddy & Ors. reported in AIR 2006 SC 1465, wherein it has been held that a writ with the prayer to decide the representation is not maintainable if there is no statutory provision for filing the representation. Relevant part of the judgment of the Supreme Court reads as under: - "19. There are also several instances where unscrupulous petitioners with the connivance of "pliable" authorities have misused the direction "to consider" issued by court. We may illustrate by an example. A claim, which is stale, time-barred or untenable, is put forth in the form of a representation. On the ground that the authority has not disposed of the representation within a reasonable time, the person making the representation approaches the High Court with an innocuous prayer to direct the authority to "consider" and dispose of the representation. When the court disposes of the petition with a direction to "consider", the authority grants the relief, taking shelter under the order of the court directing him to "consider" the grant of relief. Instances are also not wanting where authorities, unfamiliar with the process and practice relating to writ proceedings and the nuances of judicial review, have interpreted or understood the order "to consider" as directing grant of relief sought in the representation and consequently granting reliefs which otherwise could not have been granted. Thus, action of the authorities granting undeserving relief, in pursuance of orders to "consider", may be on account of ignorance, or on account of bona fide belief that they should grant relief in view of the court's direction to "consider" the claim, or on account of collusion/connivance between the person making the representation and the authority deciding it. Representations of daily-wagers seeking regularisation/absorption into regular service is a species of cases, where there has been a large-scale misuse of the orders "to consider"." Reference may also be made to the judgement of this Court in the case of Daya Shankar Pande vs. State of U.P. and others, reported in 2001(1) AWC 671. Para 15 of the said judgment reads as follows:- "15.The argument of learned counsel for the petitioner is that against the order passed by D.I.O.S. disapproving petitioner's appointment, the petitioner has filed an appeal/representation on 16.3.1999 before the Deputy Director of Education on 14.11.2000 and a direction be issued for deciding the aforesaid appeal/representation. The argument is devoid of any merit for two reasons. Firstly, Second Order under which the appointments on short-term vacancies are made, do not provide for any appeal/representation to the Deputy Director of Education or the Director of Education. The provision of appeal was only in First Order where appointments against substantive vacancies were made. Since the State Government did not provide for any appeal or representation to the educational authorities against short-term appointments, the appeal/representations of the petitioner were not made under any provision of law, therefore, no direction can be issued for deciding the same. The other reason is that First and Second Orders have been deleted with effect from 25.1.1999 and they being no more in existence, any appeal/representation under First or Second Orders could not be made by the petitioner. Further, it having been held that the appointment of petitioner was defective as it had been made without following the mandatory procedure under the Removal of Difficulties Orders no direction can be issued to educational authorities to decide the appeal/representation of the petitioner." In view of the above, the present petition is not maintainable and is dismissed, accordingly. Order Date :- 30.11.2023 Kalp Nath Singh High Court of Judicature at Allahabad