High Court of Manipur invalidates legislation, enabling panchayat officials to extend their terms in office beyond the standard five-year limitation.
In a significant ruling, the Manipur High Court has set aside a 1996 amendment to the state's Panchayat Raj Act and ordered the state government to hold elections for panchayats within six months.
The Division Bench, comprising of Chief Justice Kempaiah Somashekar and Justice A Guneshwar Sharma, delivered the judgement in the case Mayanglambam Joykumar Singh & Anr v The State of Manipur & Ors. The ruling was made while dealing with a batch of petitions challenging the 1996 amendment to Section 22(3) of the Manipur Panchayat Raj Act, 1994.
The original Section 22 provided that if the election to the panchayat cannot be conducted, the Deputy Commissioner has the power to appoint an administrative committee or administrator for a period not exceeding six months. However, the 1996 amendment introduced confusion and duality in the management of gram panchayats by replacing the word 'cease' with 'continue', and deleting the word 'administrator'. This amendment was later quashed by the Manipur High Court as unconstitutional for extending Panchayat members' tenure beyond five years.
The Court reiterated that Section 109 of the Manipur Panchayati Raj Act does not empower the authority to appoint an administrative committee beyond the period of 6 months and/or till the election is notified. The Court added that Section 109 is a general clause empowering the authority to remove difficulties, but it does not allow the appointment of an administrative committee beyond the period of 6 months and/or till the election is notified.
The Court exercised its powers of reading down the statute to place the word "cease" back in the provision. The Court also upheld the removal of the word 'administrator' but reintroduced the word "cease" in place of 'continue' in Section 22(3).
The Court ruled that the term of the gram panchayat cannot exceed five years and the term of the panchayat members shall expire after five years. All the voters of a gram panchayat are eligible to be appointed as members of the administrative committee under Section 22 of the Manipur Panchayat Raj Act.
The High Court set aside all the orders of appointment of the administrative committee of the gram panchayat and the administrator for zilla parishad, issued by the State government, for a period of more than six months. The Court reiterated that the State has been ordered to hold elections to these panchayats within six months.
The judgement overturned the orders of a single-judge that allowed panchayat and zilla parishad members, whose tenure had expired, to continue in office until new elections were held. The Court deemed the 1996 amendment to Section 22(3) of the Manipur Panchayat Raj Act as violative of Article 243E of the Indian Constitution and absurd.
With this ruling, the Manipur High Court has restored the law to its original form, ensuring that the democratic process of electing panchayat members is upheld and that the tenure of panchayat members does not exceed five years.
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