In a series of orders passed on petitions involving gram panchayats, the High Court of Karnataka has brought to the notice of the State government that there is a lack of proper representation on part of gram panchayats and panchayat development officers (PDOs) against whom litigation are pending before the court in abundance.
The court also directed the Principal Secretary, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department, to make suitable arrangement for coordinating with various local bodies for responding to the litigation before the court.
Justice Vineet Kothari, who noticed either non-representation of panchayat through the advocate in the petitions pending before the court or failure to respond in a proper way in a series of litigation, has even issued notices to PDOs of some gram panchayts, asking them to show cause why cost up to ₹50,000 should not be imposed on them for their failure to respond to the court.
In some instances, the court has directed the PDOs to deposit ₹20,000 from their personal resources for their failure to respond to the court’s notices or failure to respond properly, and in some cases, the court has directed personal appearance of some PDOs. However, despite direction from the High Court for personal appearance, some of the PDOs have failed to turn up. In such cases, the court issued direction for depositing money with the court from personal resources of such officers, besides directing the Principal Secretary, RDPR Department, to initiate action against such officers.
In one instance, the PDO of the Anneshwara Gram Panchayat, Devanahalli, Bengaluru Rural, had not responded to the court’s summons to personally appear before it and had even refused to accept the summons which the court had permitted to be served upon him through registered post.