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Judgment
Ranjit Singh, J.—This order shall dispose of two Civil Writ Petition Nos. 10088 and 16271 of 2011. Two Panches of village Chak Rakh
Amir Tehsil Jalalabad District Ferozepur vide two separate writ petitions have approached this court with a grievance that resignation letter
submitted by the respondent, Swarna Rani, who was the Sarpanch, has been permitted to be withdrawn and not accepted despite legal position as
contained in Section 17 of the Punjab Panchayati Raj Act. The election of the Gram Panchayat of the village was held on 26.05.2008. Two
petitioners alongwith Swarna Rani, Buta Singh and Paramjeet Singh were elected as Panches. Respondent No. 5, Swarna Rani was elected as
Sarpanch for a period of 21/2 years and for remaining period 2 1/2 years, the petitioner was to hold the post of Sarpanch. This is stated to be on
the basis of writing, which was executed on behalf of the member of the Panchayat. On completion of 21/2 years, respondent No. 5 submitted
resignation to the post of Sarpanch. This was attested by respondent No. 4 and sent to respondent No. 2. The resignation was, accordingly, sent
for approval to respondent No. 3 on 07.02.2011. In the meantime, respondent No. 5 stated to have had change of mind and submitted an
application to withdraw the resignation. In this application, respondent No. 5 disclosed that she had submitted the earlier application due to
political pressures. As per the petitioner, without considering the compromise, respondent No 3 allowed respondent No. 5 to withdraw the
resignation on 07.03.2011. The petitioner even moved an application u/s 19 for passing ''No Confidence Motion'' against respondent No. 5, which
was considered and now the same is not being taken up for consideration as Section 19 has been abolished and removed from the statute.
The sole issue arising for consideration is whether respondent No. 5 could be permitted to withdraw the resignation under the circumstances as
are noticed from the averments made in the petition.
In the reply filed on behalf of respondent No. 5, the averment made relating to the compromise that respondent No. 5 having been elected for 2
1/2 years is denied. The justification is, accordingly, given in the reply in support of the action of withdrawal of this letter.
Counsel for the petitioner has relied upon Section 17 of the Panchayati Raj Act, which is as under:
(1) The Sarpanch may resign his office by writing under his hand addressed to the Deputy Director concerned and
(2) Every resignation under sub-section (1) shall take effect on the expiry of fifteen days from the date of its receipt unless within this period of
fifteen days he withdraws such resignation by writing under his hand addressed to the prescribed authority.
The perusal of the Section would show that where the Sarpanch is to resign from the post in writing it has to be addressed to the Deputy
Director concerned. If that is so, the offer of resignation u/s 17 was to take effect on the expiry of 15 days from the date of its receipt unless within
this period of 15 days, the person submitting such resignation withdraw such resignation by writing under his hand addressed to prescribed
authority. The prescribed authority here would mean Deputy Director.
The resignation submitted by the petitioner is placed on record as Annexure P-2, which was addressed to the Divisional Deputy Director Rural
Development and Panchayat, Ferozepur. This letter of resignation is undated but the same was received by the Divisional Deputy Director on
16.02.2011 as can be seen from Annexure P-5. The resignation was withdrawn on 28.02.2011.
Counsel for the respondents, accordingly, would contend that the same was withdrawn within a period of 15 days from the date of its receipt by
Deputy Director. Otherwise also, it is noticed that the resignation apparently, was not voluntarily given. It is on the basis of understanding, which
may not stand the test of legal scrutiny. As a general principle of law, resignation before being accepted can always be withdrawn. The resignation
has to be voluntary, which apparently is not the case here. Since deeming provision regarding deemed acceptance of such resignation also had not
taken effect, no case for exercise of writ jurisdiction is made out. The writ petition is, accordingly, dismissed.