July 8, 2026 (23) ARDR WPA 15777 of 2026 Rezaul Khan Vs. The State of West Bengal & ors. Adv. Mrityunjoy Chatterjee, Adv. Debarnab Adhikary, …for the petitioner. Adv. Partha Banerjee, Adv. Sruti Datta, …for the respondent nos. 1 to 6. Adv. Sabyasachi Banerjee, Adv. Sayan Banerjee, Adv. Kiran Sekh, Adv. Suparna Dotla, Adv. Tusi Naskar, …for the private respondents. The State is represented The petitioner who is the Pradhan of Kaligram Gram Panchayat has challenged the requisition notice issued by the members of the Panchayat/private respondents on two fold grounds. First, the notice was not served upon him at the Panchayat or sent to him at his residence as required under Section 12(2) of the West Bengal Panchayat Act, 1973. Second, the notice is undated. Learned counsel for the private respondents takes this Court to the requisition notice which demonstrates that copy of the notice was forwarded for information to the Pradhan. No document has been filed by the private respondents to demonstrate that the notice was served/sent to the petitioner in terms of Section 12(2) of the Act. Section 12(2) of the Act mandates one copy of the motion to be delivered to the concerned officer bearer either by hand or by registered post at the Gram Panchayat office 2 and another copy to be sent by registered post at his residential address. It is obvious that the requisition notice is de hors the said provision and is therefore bad in law. Regarding the second issue raised by the petitioner, this Court is of the view that the time frame laid down under Section 12 of the Act commences from the date of receipt of the notice and not from the date of issuance of the same. Therefore the notice being undated does not render it invalid. In view of the observation made hereinabove, the writ petition is allowed. The requisition notice is set aside/quashed. However, the requisitionists/private respondents shall be at liberty to submit a fresh requisition notice before the Prescribed Authority in terms of Section 12 of the Act. On receipt of the said notice, the Prescribed Authority shall proceed in terms of the said provision of law, adhering to the time frame stipulated therein. There shall however, be no order as to costs. Since no affidavit is invited, the allegations contained in the petition are deemed not to have been admitted. Urgent certified website copy of this order, if applied for, be supplied to the parties upon compliance with all requisite formalities. (Suvra Ghosh, J.)