The hearing of the case against the Uttar Pradesh government’s decision to appoint village heads as administrators has been postponed. Allahabad High Court says that a Division Bench of Lucknow Bench is already hearing this case, therefore, it is not possible to hear it before a single bench of the High Court at this stage.
The single bench of Justice Saurabh Shyam Shamsheri hearing the case said that the case is already being heard. After which the High Court postponed the hearing of the petition for six weeks. Let us tell you that this matter is related to challenging the decision of UP government to appoint village heads as administrators. Raj Kumari Devi of Ballia and Arvind Rathore of Saharanpur had filed separate petitions regarding this matter. Both the petitions have been clubbed together.
Not allowed to continue working as administrator
Earlier in the last hearing, the High Court had said that the Pradhans cannot be allowed to continue working as administrators. The court had said that appointing him as administrator is a violation of the order of the Division Bench and is tantamount to contempt of court. This hearing took place in front of the single bench of Justice Saurabh Shyam Shamsheri.
What happened during the last hearing?
It is worth noting that during the last hearing, the bench headed by Justice Siddharth Nandan, while hearing the petition of Arvind Rathore, considered the government orders of May 25, 2026 and May 26, 2026, due to which the elections were postponed. They were declared unconstitutional. The court clarified that these orders were issued under Section 12(3-A) of the 1947 Act, a provision which the Division Bench of the High Court had already declared unconstitutional in the case Pramod Lal Patel vs. State of Uttar Pradesh.
High Court expressed surprise at the government’s decision
The court emphasized that under Articles 243-E and 243-K of the Constitution, the tenure of Panchayats is fixed at five years and elections should be held on time. The state government cited the pending report of the OBC Commission as the reason for the delay. The court expressed surprise that despite the directions of the Supreme Court, the OBC Commission had not yet submitted its report. The State Election Commission told the court that the voter list was released on June 10, 2026 and they were ready to conduct the elections, but the process was being hampered due to non-availability of necessary logistics from the state government.
Leave a Reply