HC sets aside removal of Barnala MC chief

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has rapped the state for removing the Barnala Municipal Council president for granting a loan to Nagar Panchayat, Handiyaya, to disburse salaries to Class IV workers who were without pay for the past five months.

The Bench of Justice Sureshwar Thakur and Justice Sudeepti Sharma also set aside the removal of Gurjit Singh Aulakh as the president. The court found no abuse of power in extending a loan to the Nagar Panchayat for disbursing employee salaries.

The Bench observed that the government, as the overall head of all municipal councils and nagar panchayats, should have taken responsibility for addressing the financial crises in these local bodies, rather than dismissing the petitioner for a “noble act”.

The matter was placed before the Bench after Aulakh through senior counsel Pawan Kumar and Vidushi Kumar filed a petition against the state and other respondents challenging order dated October 10, 2023 whereby he – elected representative of Barnala Municipal Council – was removed from the president’s post.

“The government rather than appreciating the conduct of the petitioner in granting loan to the Nagar Panchayat, Handiyaya, which is again duty of the state, dismissed the petitioner for this noble act of helping the Nagar Panchayat, Handiyaya, by way of issuing Rs 10 lakh as loan, whereby the salary of the Class IV employees was to be paid, which was not paid since last 5 months,” the Bench asserted.