Raipur. The Supreme Court has expressed displeasure over the Chhattisgarh government removing the elected woman sarpanch of a remote village for ‘improper reasons’. The Supreme Court said on Monday that the state government wants the sarpanch to “go with a begging bowl in front of the babu (bureaucrat)”. A bench of Justice Suryakant and Justice Ujjal Bhuiyan has imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on the state government for mental harassment of Sonam Lakra, a woman sarpanch of a village in Jashpur district, to be paid in four weeks. The bench said that this is a case of arbitrariness on the part of the officials in removing an elected sarpanch, a young woman who thought of serving her village in a remote area of Chhattisgarh.
The bench said that instead of appreciating her commitments or cooperating with her or helping her efforts for the development of her village, she was treated absolutely unfairly.
The Supreme Court termed the initiation of proceedings to remove her from the post of Sarpanch due to delay in supply of construction material and completion of construction work as a ‘frivolous excuse’. The court said in its order, “Construction works involve uncertainties of weather apart from engineers, contractors and timely supply of material and therefore, how can the Sarpanch be held responsible for the delay in construction works, unless it is found that there was delay in allotment of work or in performing any specific duty assigned.” The bench said that we are satisfied that initiation of proceedings was a frivolous excuse and the appellant was removed from the post of Sarpanch on a false pretext.
The apex court reinstated the removal order passed by the Sub-Divisional Officer (Revenue) and restored the woman to the post of Sarpanch till the completion of her term. “Since the appellant has been harassed and subjected to avoidable litigation, we order that a sum of Rs 1 lakh be paid to her, which shall be paid by the State of Chhattisgarh within four weeks,” the bench said, adding that the state is free to recover the amount from the officials responsible for harassing the woman.
