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Kiran Pal Singh v. The State of Uttar Pradesh

Civil Appeal · 2018 INSC 530Decided 17 May 2018
Civil Appeal No. 2622 of 2018
Chief Justice Dipak Misra · Justice A.M. Khanwilkar · Dr. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud

Background

Kiran Pal Singh was elected as Pramukh (head) of the Kshettra Panchayat of Vikash Khand Gulawati, District Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh, in 2015. Some panchayat members later moved a no-confidence motion against him before the District Magistrate under the Uttar Pradesh Kshettra Panchayats and Zila Panchayats Adhiniyam, 1961. He challenged the resulting proceedings, arguing among other things that the law barred a fresh no-confidence notice from being received within one year of an earlier notice under Section 15(2), and that this bar had been violated.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the statutory bar under Section 15(12) of the Act, against a fresh no-confidence notice within a year, only applies where an earlier no-confidence meeting had actually been convened and either failed to carry the motion, or could not be held for want of quorum. On the facts, no such meeting had ever been convened on the earlier notice, so the bar never came into play; merely lodging a notice with the Collector, without a meeting taking place, does not trigger the one-year restriction. The Court traced the constitutional basis for Panchayati Raj institutions (the 73rd Amendment and Article 40) and explained that while the law protects a Pramukh's five-year tenure for administrative stability, it equally allows removal through a valid no-confidence vote to preserve grassroots democratic accountability. Finding no merit in the appellant's technical objection, the Court dismissed the appeal with no order as to costs.

Lesson Learnt

A procedural safeguard meant to protect an elected local official from repeated no-confidence attempts (the one-year "cooling off" bar) only kicks in once a no-confidence meeting has genuinely been held and failed: simply filing a notice that is never acted upon does not by itself block a later, properly convened no-confidence motion.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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