Arvind Kar Pathak vs State Of U.P. And 2 Others
2023 Latest Caselaw 30192 ALL

HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
 
 


?Neutral Citation No. - 2023:AHC:207784
 
Court No. - 6
 

 
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 27665 of 2023
 

 
Petitioner :- Arvind Kar Pathak
 
Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 2 Others
 
Counsel for Petitioner :- Prabhakar Dubey,Akhtar Ali
 
Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.
 

 
Hon'ble Mrs. Manju Rani Chauhan,J.

Heard Mr. Prabhakar Dubey, learned counsel for the petitioner and learned Standing Counsel for the State-respondents.

This writ petition has been filed by the petitioner with a prayer to quash the order dated 24.07.2023 passed by the District Magistrate, Siddhartha Nagar/respondent no.2 and a further prayer to restrain the respondents from recovery of any amount from the petitioner in pursuance to the aforesaid order.

Brief facts of the case are that the petitioner was elected Gram Pradhan of the concerned Gram Pranchayat and his tenure was from the year 2015-2020. On a complaint moved by the villagers regarding illegality in certain village development work, an enquiry has been conducted and, thereafter, the order impugned has been passed. Hence, the present petition has been filed.

Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that he has challenged the recovery order dated 24.07.2023 issued by the District Magistrate, Siddhartha Nagar, under section 27 of U.P. Panchayat Raj Act on the ground that the inquiry was not conduced by Chief Audit Officer as required under law. Therefore, the order impugned is bad in the eye of law. In support of his contention, he has relied upon the judgment of the Co-ordinate Bench of this Court in the case of Smt. Pinki Devi vs. State of U.P. and 3 Ors. decided on 12.04.2023 passed in Writ-A No.5335 of 2023.

Learned Standing Counsel does not dispute the aforesaid.

The aforesaid issue has already been settled by Division Bench of this Court in the case of 'Dinesh Kumar and others vs. State of U.P. and others' reported in 2023 (1) ADJ 81. This Court has also decided the aforesaid issue in the case of Nageena Singh vs. State Of U.P. And 2 Others decided on 12.10.2023 passed in Writ- C No. - 34147 of 2023.

Thus, in view of the order passed in the case of Dinesh Kumar (supra), the impugned order dated 24.07.2023 passed by District Magistrate, Siddhartha Nagar is set aside. It shall be open to the authorities concerned to proceed, in accordance with law, after getting a proper inquiry conducted as required under the relevant provisions and also keeping in mind the observations made by the Court in the case of Dinesh Kumar (supra).

With the aforesaid observations/directions, the writ petition stands allowed.

Order Date :- 31.10.2023

Jitendra/-