Kochi: Cancelling the constitution of 69 new panchayats, Kerala High Court on Monday quashed the government notification forming new panchayats bifurcating areas or parts of the existing villages without prior notification by the Governor.
Justice A.V. Ramakrishna Pillai observed that a declaration by the Governor in exercise of powers under Article 243 (g) of the Constitution is mandatory for the formation of a village. Without such declaration, no village comes into existence.
The court was considering 47 petitions challenging two notifications in which 84-odd villages were involved in the process.
If a village had come into existence on the basis of a notification issued by the Governor, then nothing prevented the government from forming a panchayat for that village.
“If portions of a village come under different panchayats, the same may cause inconvenience to the residents of the village,” the court observed.
“Without a prior notification conferring the status of village over the area in respect of which the panchayat has to be formed, no village panchayat can be constituted. It is also crucial to note that Article 243 B of the Constitution stated that forming of new panchayats does not envisage the constitution of panchayats for a part of the village,” the court said.
The court observed that as the entire exercise has to be started afresh by the state on the basis of the new notification, it can be made use of only for the elections to the local bodies to be held in 2020. “It cannot cure the defects in the notification in question,” the court observed.
The petitioners argued that formation of new panchayats by taking certain portions of the existing villages without notifying those portions as new village was illegal.
The state took the stand that bifurcation was on account of long-standing public demand. The government issued the notification on April 25.
