PRADESH SHIMLA v. Deputy Commissioner & Anr.

Coram: The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Deepak Gupta, Judge. Whether approved for Reporting? No. For the Petitioner Mr. Sanjeev Bhushan, Advocate. For the Respondent No1 Mr. Vivek Singh Thakur, Addl. AG. Deepak Gupta, J . (oral) The only question which arise in this petition is whether defect in Election Petition filed under Section 163 read with Section 175 of the Himachal Pradesh Panchayati Raj Act, 1994 are curable and the petitioner can be given time to correct this defect. This question is no longer res integra. A Division Bench of this Court in Devinder Singh Versus Deputy Commissioner, Shimla and others LPA No. 149 of 2008, decided on April 7, 2010 has clearly held that the defect of verification is a curable defect and can be cured in terms of Section 165 of the HP Panchayati Raj Act, 1994.

In view of the decision of the Division Bench, there can be no doubt that such a defect is curable. Therefore, the order of the Deputy Commissioner permitting the respondent-election petitioner to cure the defect cannot be held to be illegal.

It has been urged by Mr. Bhushan that the Deputy Commissioner had granted only 15 days’ time to cure the defect and this defect has not been cured. This is not something which this court has to see. It is for the authorized officer that the person before the election petition was filed, to see whether the defect has been cured within the time granted or not. It is further for that officer to decide whether any time can be granted or cannot be granted and if granted should be granted, therefore this question cannot be decided. In view of the above discussion, I find no merit in this petition, which is accordingly rejected. 2nd December, 2010 (Guleria) Deepak Gupta, Judge