Allahabad High Court: Deciding a petition challenging the validity of the elections held to the Gram Panchayats in 80 villages included within the territorial limits of Yamuna Expressway Industrial Developmental Authority which was declared to be an ‘industrial township’ by the Governor of State of Uttar Pradesh vide notification dated December 18, 2015, in exercise of powers under the proviso to clause (1) of Article 243-Q of the Constitution, the Court held that no gram panchayat shall be constituted for these villages covered under the notification till the next date of listing, in view of the prohibition under Section 12-A of the Uttar Pradesh Industrial Area Development Act, 1976.
The petitioner’s contention was that in view of Section 12-A, no gram panchayat can be constituted for these villages, as held by the Division Bench in Rakam Singh v. State of UP, Writ Petition (C) No. 9899 of 2015, that once an industrial area has been declared to be an industrial township, consequences as envisaged under the legislative prohibition i.e. Section 12-A would follow.
“12-A. No panchayat for industrial township.– Notwithstanding anything contained to the contrary in any Uttar Pradesh Act, where an industrial development area or any part thereof is specified to be an industrial township under the proviso to clause (1) of Article 243-Q of the Constitution, such industrial development area or part thereof, if included in a panchayat area, shall, with effect from the date of notification made under the said proviso, stand excluded from such panchayat area and no panchayat shall be constituted for such industrial development area or part thereof under the United Provinces Panchayat Raj Act, 1947 or the Uttar Pradesh Kshetra Panchayats and Zila Panchayats Adhiniyam, 1961, as the case may be, and any panchyat constituted for such industrial development area or part thereof before the date of such notification shall cease to exist.”
The Court permitted the State Government to declare the result of the election, since the election schedule for these gram panchayats had been notified and voting had already taken place. [Suresh Chandra Sharma v. State of U.P., 2016 SCC OnLine All 334 , order dated May 30, 2016]