Neutral Citation No. - 2025:AHC-LKO:44666-DB Court No. - 2 Case :- WRIT - C No. - 6965 of 2025 Petitioner :- Abhay Pratap Singh Respondent :- State Of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy., Deptt. Of Panchayati Raj, Lko. And Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Priyanshu Shukla,Alok Mishra Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C. Hon'ble Rajan Roy,J. Hon'ble Manish Kumar,J. 1. Heard. 2. The petitioner has filed this writ petition seeking following reliefs:- "i. to issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of Mandamus commanding the opposite parties especially opposite party no.2 and 3 not to proceed further against the petitioner for investigation of the allegations so alleged by the opposite party no.5 same being as a result of an outburst and same being the result of the counterblast of the complaint having being made by the petitioner against the opposite party no.5 and the same also suffering from want of jurisdiction and authority of law vested in the opposite parties for conducting any such enquiry against the petitioner being the Pradhans of Village-Mithnapur, Tehsil- Sahabad District- Hardoi. ii. to issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of Mandamus commanding the opposite parties especially opposite party no.3 to take appropriate action in accordance with law and in accordance with Rule 67 of the U.P Revenue Code 2016 against the opposite party no.5 for illegal y grabbing/encroachment over the land pertaining to charagah Gram- Mithnapur Tehsil-Shahabad District- Hardoi in accordance with law expeditiously. iii. to pass such other order or direction, which this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper under the facts and circumstances of the case in favour of the petitioner. iv. allow the writ petition with costs in favour of the petitioner." 3. The petitioner's Counsel says that he is not pressing relief No.2 in this petition but will raise it separately as per law, if it is otherwise permissible in law. 4. Apparently, if the Sub Divisional Magistrate, Shahabad, District-Hardoi is heading the Committee constituted by the District Magistrate, District-Hardoi for an enquiry even if a preliminary enquiry under the U.P. Panchayat Raj (Removal of Pradhan, Up-Pradhan and Members) Enquiry Rules, 1997 (hereinafter referred to as "Rules, 1997"), then, he not being a District Level Officer, he and the Committee headed by him would not be competent to conduct such an enquiry. We, therefore, dispose of this petition with direction to the District Magistrate, District-Hardoi to look into the matter, verify the facts and if he finds that the Committee constituted by him for conducting an enquiry under the Rules, 1997 whether preliminary or final is headed by an officer, who is not a District Level Officer such as Sub Divisional Magistrate then such enquiry will not be conducted by the said Committee and in that eventuality, he will have to constitute another Committee headed by a District Level Officer for conducting enquiry or an individual officer of the same rank. Let this exercise be completed by the District Magistrate, District-Hardoi within one week from receipt of a certified copy of this order in accordance with law. Till such decision is taken, the enquiry, if it is being conducted by the Sub Divisional Magistrate or a Committee headed by the Sub Divisional Magistrate shall not take place, subject, however, to the liberty aforesaid. 5. With the aforesaid directions/observations, the writ petition is disposed of. (Manish Kumar, J.) (Rajan Roy, J.) Order Date :- 1.8.2025 -Piyush- Digitally signed by :- PIYUSH YADAV High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, Lucknow Bench