HC upholds woman sarpanch’s disqualification over encroachment of govt land

Mohammed Akhef | TNN | Updated: Dec 25, 2020

Aurangabad: The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay high court has dismissed a writ petition by Taslimbee Akram Pathan challenging her disqualification in July 2019 as woman sarpanch of Gram Panchayat Umravati in Phulambri taluka of Aurangabad on the grounds of encroachment of a government land in the village by her family.

Pathan was elected sarpanch of Umravati in 2017. Later, Sadiq Hussain, a gram panchayat member, complained to the district collector that she, her husband and father-in-law had encroached a `Gayraan’ (cattle grazing) land, which is a government property, and raised a food godown there. A subsequent panchanama by the revenue authorities had confirmed the encroachment.

After a hearing process, the district collector ordered Pathan’s disqualification on July 22, 2019 under the provisions of the Maharashtra Village Panchayats Act 1959 and the divisional commissioner dismissed her appeal on October 7, 2020 against the collector’s decision. Pathan then moved the high court.

Pathan’s key argument in her defence was that she and her husband were living separately from her father-in-law and the encroached structure cannot be attributed to her, but to her father-in-law and, hence, she should not be disqualified. She also argued that her ration card was separate from the ration card of her father-in-law.

Lawyer Devdutt Palodkar, representing Hussain, had countered the argument by pointing out that the land was encroached in 2001 and the petitioner got married only in 2010, besides, there was no evidence to show that she and her husband were living separately from her father-in-law.

The bench of Justice Mangesh Patil observed, “There is no record to show that and it is nobody’s case that the respondent Nos. 7 and 8 (Pathan’s husband and father-in-law, respectively) are separate by metes and bounds in all respects. If the encroached portion is being used as a godown for storage of grains, being a member of the family which is not separate by metes and bounds, the petitioner can certainly be attributed with the use of the encroached premises.”

The bench also noted that the names of the woman sarpanch and her husband were separated from the ration card only three months prior to the sarpanch elections in 2017. Read more at:

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