Smt.Kavita Devi v. The State of Bihar

Smt. Geeta Devi, Wife of Sri Sadaland Paswan. All residents of Village Sahpur, Panchayat Himmat Nagar, Prakhand and P.S. Kochadhaman, District Kishanganj. .... .... Respondents ====================================================== Appearance : Mr. A.K. Sinha, Sr. Advocate Mr. S.K. Singh, Advocate Mr. Amit Shrivastava, Advocate Mr. Girish Pandey, Advocate Mr. Tej Pratap Singh, A.C. to S.C. 17 For the State ====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE JUSTICE SMT. SHEEMA ALI KHAN ORAL ORDER For the Petitioners For the S.E.C. : : : 2 16-05-2012 The petitioners are aggrieved with Annexure-3 which is a letter issued by the Deputy Secretary of the State Election Commission to the Collector-cum-Returning Officer, Kishanganj. Petitioner no. 1 was elected as a Mukhiya in the Panchayat elections in the year 2011 whereas petitioner no. 2 was elected as a Sarpanch in the said election. A complaint was filed 2 Patna High Court CWJC No.9763 of 2012 (2) dt.16-05-2012 before the State Election Commission alleging that both these petitioners are disqualified from holding the post as they do not belong to the reserved category. The matter was sent to the District Magistrate, Kishanganj for enquiry with respect to the caste status of the petitioners. The District Magistrate, Kishanganj had made an enquiry and sent a report to the State Election Commission. The State Election Commission on 19.4.2012 has heard the matter and fixed the next date on 23.5.2012 and in the meantime, has given the direction to institute a criminal proceeding by filing an F.I.R. against these two petitioners. In the opinion of this Court, the State Election Commission could not have given a direction of this nature without concluding the proceeding. The direction of the State Election Commission indicates that the Commission has made up its mind without hearing the petitioners. I, therefore, quash Annexure-3, the letter to the District Magistrate-cum-Returning Officer directing to institute an F.I.R. This writ application is allowed. (Sheema Ali Khan, J.) Sanjay/-