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“No.3­131/PS/HB/2016­17/535 OFFICE OF THE PANCHAYAT SAMITY HUT BAY, LITTLE ANDAMAN ************** Hut Bay dated the 2nd Jan. 2017 To, The Deputy Commissioner, South Andaman, Port Blair.
Sub: Report on No Confidence Motion against Smt. Sima Sarkar, Pramukh, Panchayat Samiti, Little Andaman­Reg.
Sir, The re­scheduled special meeting on No Confidence Motion was held on 02/01/2017 at 3:00 pm in the Conference hall of Panchayat Samiti. The notice was served to 5 elected members and a Member of Parliament, Andaman and Nicobar Administration. After serving notice to Member of Parliament as per Panchayat Regulation 1994 under chapter X at serial no.107 the members of the Panchayat Samiti, Hut Bay become six and 2/3 rd majority is

26. That takes us to the question as to who can vote on the ‘No Confidence Motion’. Indubitably, the language of Section 117 of the Regulation envisages that the motion is required to be carried by a majority of not less two­thirds of the “total number” of members of the Panchayat Samiti present and voting. A similar mandate flows from Rule 9 read with Rule 21 of the Rules. The question is whether the law as enacted in the form of Section 117 of the Regulation, in any way, deviates from the scheme of Part­IX of the Constitution. Our answer is an emphatic “NO”. The fact that Article 243C(5)(b) postulates that the chairperson of the Panchayat Samiti at the intermediate level shall be elected by, and from amongst, the elected members thereof, it does not follow that the process of removal of such chairperson should be limited to voting by the elected members. The law on the removal of the Pramukh or Up­Pramukh by means of ‘No Confidence Motion’ has been enacted by the State Legislature. That permits “all” the members of the Panchayat Samiti to participate in the discussion and vote on the motion of no confidence. On conjoint reading of Section 117, Rule 9(3)(b) and also Rule 21 of the Rules, in our opinion, they, in no way, exclude any member of the Panchayat Samiti muchless the members referred to in Section 107(3) of the Regulation. Not even by necessary implication. Taking any other view would result in re­writing of the provisions to read as ­ the motion of no confidence must be carried out by a majority of not less than two­thirds of the total number of “directly elected” members of the Panchayat Samiti mentioned in Section 107(2), present and voting. We must presume that the State Legislature was conscious of the marked distinction between the category of members constituting the Panchayat Samiti. As is evident from Section 107(2), it refers to a category of persons chosen by direct election from the territorial constituencies, in contradistinction to the other category of persons mentioned in Section 107(3), the constituent of the Panchayat Samiti. If the legislature had intended to exclude the latter category from the process of ‘No Confidence Motion’, it would have expressly limited it to only the elected members [former category ascribable to Section 107(2)] of the Panchayat Samiti, as is done at the stage of election of the chairperson. Whereas, the provision makes it incumbent that not less than two­thirds of the “total number” of members of the Panchayat Samiti must participate and vote. This is the legislative intent which cannot be whittled down by some overstretched interpretative process including by relying on the common law principle that only the body of persons, who had elected the Pramukh or Up­ Pramukh, alone can initiate such a process.