The High Court dismissed the writ petition challenging the Financial Commissioner's order which set aside the petitioner's appointment as Lambardar due to criminal allegations and directed fresh selection proceedings, upholding the lower authority's findings.
The writ petition was dismissed; the Financial Commissioner's order was maintained.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
C.W.P.No.4950 of 2011 -1-
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH
C.W.P.No.4950 of 2011 Date of Decision: 12.10.2011
Charanji Lal son of Ram Asra ...Petitioner
Versus
State of Punjab & Ors. ...Respondents
CORAM: HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE MEHINDER SINGH SULLAR
Present:Mr.Amrik Singh, Advocate for the petitioner. Mehinder Singh Sullar, J . (Oral)
The conspectus of the facts, culminating in the commencement, relevant for deciding the instant writ petition and emanating from the record, is that in the wake of death of Gurbachan Singh, the post of Lambardar in the scheduled caste category of village Kariyam, District Nawanshahr had fallen vacant. It was claimed that as only petitioner Charanji Lal applied, therefore, the Collector appointed him on the indicated post of Lambardar of the village, by way of order dated 13.3.2007 (Annexure P2).
C.W.P.No.4950 of 2011 -2-
“3. Having considered the rival contentions, I am of the view that the Collector and the Commissioner were in error in appointing the respondent Chiranji Lal as Scheduled Caste Lambardar of village Karyam.
C.W.P.No.4950 of 2011 -3-
The two FIRs cited by petitioner's counsel clearly show that the respondent had prima facie been found indulging in the unethical and immoral practice of illegal migration and has duped many people in the area. This practice is a serious scourge in many parts of the State and especially in villages to which the lambardari relates. Respondent's counsel tried to rebut this contention, contending that actually it was the respondent's brother who was working as a travel agent and sending people abroad and the respondent had been named in the FIRs only because of the general tendency to rope in family members of an accused. I am not impressed by this argument. As noted above, FIRs have been registered against the respondent Chiranji Lal in more than one district and the assertion that there were other FIRs also besides tow cited by petitioner's counsel has not been effectively rebutted. No doubt it has been held that mere pendency of the FIR does not disentitle a person from being eligible for the post of lambardar, but in the instant case the nature of the alleged crime and the fact that multiple FIRs have been registered cannot be ignored. I, therefore, held that the respondent Chiranji Lal is not a fit person to be appointed as lambardar.
4. This petition is accordingly accepted, the orders dated 13.3.07 of the District Collector and dated 21.8.07 of the Commissioner are set aside and it is ordered that proceedings for appointment of a new lambardar may be initiated by the District Collector, S.B.S.Nagar.”
C.W.P.No.4950 of 2011 -4-
12.10.2011 AS
2 issues framed by the court
Whether the Financial Commissioner's order setting aside the appointment of the petitioner and directing fresh proceedings is maintainable under Article 226.
Whether the petitioner, due to allegations of fraud and cheating captured in multiple FIRs, is a fit person for the post of Lambardar.
1 provisions across 1 enactments
Charanji Lal
State of Punjab
Harbhajan Singh
Mehinder Singh Sullar
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
