HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD LUCKNOW PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION (PIL) No. - 1216 of 2025 Court No. - 2 HON'BLE MRS. SANGEETA CHANDRA, J. HON'BLE AMITABH KUMAR RAI, J. This writ petition has been filed with the following prayers :- (a) To issue, a writ, order or direction in the nature of Mandamus commanding the opposite parties to conduct an independent, high-level investigation into the alleged misappropriation of Panchayat funds at Gram Panchayat Baruhi (Banpurwa) for the period 2019-2025 by an independent agency such as the State Vigilance, CBCID or an SIT constituted by this Hon'ble Court (or CBI if this Court deems fit). (b) To Issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ directing initiation of criminal proceedings against the Pradhan, Gram Panchayat Secretary and any other officials found involved in financial irregularities. (c) To direct recovery of misappropriated funds by appropriate proceedings (civil / criminal / departmental) and order restitution of recovered funds to the Gram Panchayat corpus for public use. (d) To direct systemic remedial measures to strengthen monitoring, verification and physical inspection of Panchayat works in BARUHI / Huzoorpur Block to avoid recurrence. (e) To direct installation of online monitoring/geo-tagging of all Gram Panchayat development works to prevent future corruption. It has been submitted by learned counsel for the petitioner that the petitioner is a registered non-profit public service organization engaged in rural development and in promoting public accountability, transparency and protection of public funds. The State Secretary of Versus Counsel for Petitioner(s) : Hari Nath Singh, Vishva Deep Pandey Counsel for Respondent(s) : C.S.C., Pankaj Gupta Shobharam Janseva Foundation Thru.State Secretary,Bhupendra Singh .....Petitioner(s) State Of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. Panchayati Raj Deptt. Lko. And 5 Others .....Respondent(s) the said foundation has collected sufficient material, including photographic evidence and documentary records, against the Gram Pradhan of Gram Panchayat Baruhi (Banpurwa) and has found that the Gram Pradhan as well as the Gram Panchayat Secretary have embezzled public funds and committed several financial irregularities. Various works have been shown as executed and payments have been withdrawn from the Village Panchayat Khand for such works but such works have not actually been carried out. The petitioner along with other villagers have repeatedly made complaints to the authorities but to no avail. A local inspection inquiry was also conducted by the petitioner and its field volunteers and sufficient proof has been provided; however, despite such complaints regarding embezzlement and corruption in carrying out development work of village Panchayat Baruhi (Banpurwa), nothing has been done. In fact, one complaint has also been made to the District Magistrate under the Uttar Pradesh Panchayat Raj (Removal of Pradhans, Up- Pradhans and Members) Enquiry Rules, 1997. The District Magistrate has constituted a team of two officers i.e. the District Sugarcane Officer, Bahraich and the Assistant Engineer, Rural Engineering Department, Bahraich, and has directed that an opportunity of hearing be given to the complainant as well as to the Gram Pradhan and Gram Panchayat Secretary and a report be submitted. In compliance with the order passed by the District Magistrate on 09.07.2025, nothing substantial has been done in the matter, although the committee did, in fact, visit and inspect the development works allegedly carried out. The petitioner has collected sufficient documentary evidence that it wishes to submit to the committee, but there is deliberate negligence on the part of the committee in considering such evidence. Sri Manish Mishra, learned Additional C.S.C., on the basis of instructions, states that the committee has been constituted under the 1997 Rules as aforesaid by the District Magistrate on 09.07.2025. There are 102 files that need to be looked into and physical verification of the alleged development works was also conducted by the District Sugarcane Officer on 26.11.2025. WPIL No. 1216 of 2025 2 This petition is disposed of with a direction to the D.P.R.O., Bahraich, to ensure that the inquiry is completed strictly in accordance with law within a period of three months and that a report is submitted to the competent authority. December 2, 2025 Ashish Dewal WPIL No. 1216 of 2025 3 (Amitabh Kumar Rai,J.) (Mrs. Sangeeta Chandra,J.) Digitally signed by :- ASHISH DEWAL High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, Lucknow Bench