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Panchayat cannot postpone the disposal of show cause notice if pending before the Additional Director: High Court of Bombay at Goa

Unless there is no stay granted by the Additional Director of Panchayat, Village Panchayat cannot postpone the disposal of the show cause notice, merely because the appeal is pending before the Additional Director. Therefore, the Panchayat is directed to dispose of Show Cause Notice on its own merits as expeditiously as possible and in any case within four weeks from today. A single judge comprising of Justice M. S. SONAK & SMT. M. S. JAWALKAR adjudicating the matter Elsa Fernandes v. The State of Goa (WRIT PETITION NO.1472 OF 2021) dealt with the issue of maintainability of the case.

In the present case, the Sarpanch has issued a notice under Section 64(i)(j) of the Goa Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 directing respondent to stop the construction, produce necessary permission, failing which it was stated that necessary action will be initiated in term of the Goa Panchayat Raj Act, 1994.

The Notice issued by Sarpanch pointed out that the illegal construction work undertaken by the Respondent is causing obstruction to the movement of the vehicles and therefore, the respondent should show cause why the same should not be demolished.

The Respondent without showing cause has instituted an appeal before the Additional Director of Panchayat questioning the Show Cause Notice itself on the ground that the Sarpanch has no powers to issue such Show Cause Notice and that the same could have been issued only by the Secretary. It was relied that Section 47 of the said Act does not appear to have been read in its entirety, in as much as Section 47 does not state that only Secretary has powers to issue notices but Section 47 states that Secretary “shall also exercise the powers”.

 Petitioners complain that merely because the respondent has instituted an appeal before the Additional Director, the Panchayat is not proceeding to dispose of its Show Cause Notice. It is pointed out that this is even though there is no stay granted by the Additional Director of Panchayat.

The court held,” that as long as there is no stay granted by the Additional Director of Panchayat, Village Panchayat cannot postpone the disposal of the show cause notice, merely because the appeal is pending before the Additional Director. The Panchayat is, therefore, directed to dispose of Show Cause Notice on its own merits as expeditiously as possible and in any case within four weeks from today.” If the Respondent has not filed any reply to the Show Cause Notice. Therefore, if the Respondent wishes to file any reply, Respondent is granted liberty to do so within one week from today. If no reply is filed, then, the Panchayat to dispose of Show Cause Notice on the basis that Respondent does not wish to file a reply in the matter. Also, the Additional Director of Panchayat to dispose of Respondent no appeal on its own merits. The Additional Director will have to take into consideration the aforesaid decisions of this Court while disposing of the appeal.

The Court instructed that” The Additional Director of Panchayat should also consider the issue as to whether Respondent has any permissions for carrying out the construction and whether construction is in accord with law or not. In such matters, interim relief or final relief should not be granted for mere asking and based on some hyper-technical pleas. Ultimately, it is also the responsibility of the Additional Director of Panchayat to ensure that only the legal and authorized constructions are protected.”

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