Summary
Elected panchayat members faced disqualification as beneficiaries of encroachments attributed to their fathers or grandfathers, without allegations that they originally encroached. Construing the law as it stood in2017, the Court declined to extend the disqualification merely through family status, while identifying punishment and final eviction orders as additional grounds preventing continuation.
Issues
- Whether a family member of an original encroacher was disqualified under Section14(1)(j-3) as then construed.
- How punishment or final eviction under Section53 affected continued membership.
Provisions considered
- Section14(1)(j-3), Maharashtra Village Panchayats Act, 1958The Court construed the then-existing encroachment disqualification as referring to the person who originally made the encroachment. (¶¶ 1, 11–16)
- Section53(1), (2) and (2A), Maharashtra Village Panchayats Act, 1958Punishment for encroachment or a final eviction order was identified as independently preventing continued membership in the situations stated. (¶¶ 10–11, 15–16)
Held
- An elected representative could be unseated only as provided by law. The legislature expressly extended some other disqualifications to family members, but had not done so here. Courts could not supply words merely to implement a desirable conflict-of-interest policy. (¶ 11–14)
- For Section14(1)(j-3), the Court held in this2017 judgment that the relevant person was the one who first actually encroached. Merely being a beneficiary or family member did not satisfy that construction. The continuing-wrong authority and corrupt-practice purposive-interpretation case did not decide this statutory question. (¶ 12–15)
- The Court nevertheless stated that a member punished for encroachment under Section53(1), or subject to a final eviction order under Section53(2) or(2A), could not continue. If any appellant fell within one of the three stated situations, that appellant was to be unseated; broader extension was left to legislation. (¶ 15–17)
Result
Impugned judgments set aside and appeals disposed of without costs, subject to unseating any appellant falling within the stated original-encroachment, punishment or final-eviction situations.