Item No.18 19.08.2026 Court. No. 12 GB MAT 1335 of 2026 With CAN 1 of 2026 The Pradhan, Saralpur Gram Panchayat & Anr. Versus The State of West Bengal & Ors. Mr. Sudeep Sanyal, Sr. Adv., Mr. Dipjyoti Chakraborty, Mr. Chandrachur Lahiri, Mr. Joy Chakraborty, Mr. Souvik Ganguly … for the Appellants. Ms. Aishwarya Rajyeshree, Mr. Anish Chakraborty … for the State. Mr.Robiul Islam, Mr. Masrooq Rahman … for the Respondents. 1. The appeal arises out of an order dated August 5, 2026, passed in WPA 17153 of 2026. By the order impugned, the learned court extended the date of the meeting by a period of 10 days from the date of Her Lordship’s order. The motion was brought on July 2, 2026 and the meeting was fixed on the basis of the requisition brought by the respondent nos.7 to 22 on July 22, 2026. The meeting was cancelled due to non-availability of police assistance. 2. Under section 12 (4) of the said Act, the meeting has to be held within 15 working days from the date of receipt of motion by the prescribed authority and the meeting shall not be adjourned or cancelled except in pursuance of an order or direction of a competent 2 Court or for reasons beyond control of the prescribed authority. 3. From the communication of the prescribed authority, we do not find that the ground for cancellation was in accordance with the grounds provided in the statute. The reason assigned was that, police force would not be available. However, the prescribed authority did not record that the situation at the ground level demanded adequate police posting at the time of the meeting. 4. The law does not provide that, in every meeting of such nature, police posting is necessary. The meeting could have been held, and in the event the prescribed authority felt that law and order problem would arise, he could have immediately called for intervention by the police authority. It is the duty of the police authority to assist all Government officials in discharge of their official duties. Thus, the ground for postponement of the meeting is not tenable in law. Unless specific instances were provided to demonstrate that, non-availability of the police force would result in a chaotic or unsafe situation, the postponement of the meeting deserves to be set aside. Section 12 (10) of the said Act provides that the entire process from the receipt of the requisition till the completion of the meeting, should be concluded within 30 days. By the order impugned, 3 the time was extended beyond the statutory provision. 5. Section 12 of the said Act deals with the motion of no confidence for removal of the Pradhan or Upa- Pradhan. Section 12(1) provides that the Pradhan or Upa-Pradhan of the Gram Panchayat may, at any time be removed from his office by majority of the existing members of the Gram Panchayat, expressing their lack of confidence against the Pradhan or Upa- Pradhan or by recording the decision to remove the Pradhan or Upa-Pradhan, “at a meeting specially convened for the purpose”. For the purpose of removal of the Pradhan or Upa-Pradhan, one third of the existing members subject to the minimum of three members, shall sign a motion in writing, expressing their lack of confidence against the Pradhan or Upa-Pradhan or recording their intention to remove the Pradhan or Upa-Pradhan, by indicating the party affiliation or independent status of each of the members. The said motion shall be delivered in person or through any member or by registered post to the prescribed authority. One copy of the motion shall be delivered to the concerned office bearer either by hand or by registered post of the Gram Panchayat office. Another copy of the motion shall be sent by registered post at the residential address of the office bearer sought to be 4 removed. Sub-section (3) provides that the prescribed authority on receipt of the motion shall satisfy himself that the motion conformed to the requirement of sub-section (2) of Section 12. On being satisfied, the notice convening the meeting will be sent within five working days from the receipt of the motion. Before the meeting is held, clear seven days notice to each of the existing members shall be given for consideration of the motion and for taking a decision on it. Section 12(3) and Section 12(4) provides time frames. 6. The learned trial Judge extended this period by directing that steps should be taken within 10 working days from the date of communication of the order by the requisitionists. The learned Judge overlooked the time frame and the step by step actions that are to be taken by the prescribed authority before holding the meeting. The entire process under Section 12 has to be completed within 30 days. The learned Single Judge did not provide the period within which the notice should be issued, before the meeting is convened. The time limits under Section 12(3), (4) and 10 are mandatory. 7. The relevant provisions are quoted below:- “12. Motion of no confidence or removal of Pradhan or Upa- Pradhan.-(1)Subject to other provisions of this section, the Pradhan or the Upa- 5 Pradhan of a Gram Panchayat may, at any time, be removed from his office by the majority of the existing members of the Gram Panchayat, referred to in clause (i) of subsection (2A) of section 4, expressing their lack of confidence against the Pradhan or the Upa-Pradhan or recording their decision to remove the Pradhan or the Upa-Pradhan, at a meeting specially convened for the purpose. (2) For the purpose of removal of the Pradhan or the Upa-Pradhan, one-third of the existing members referred to in subsection (1) subject to a minimum of three members shall sign a motion in writing expressing their lack of confidence against the Pradhan or the Upa-Pradhan or recording their intention to remove the Pradhan or the Upa-Pradhan, indicating party affiliation or independent status of each of such members and either deliver the motion in person through any of the members or send it by registered post to the prescribed authority; one copy of the motion shall be delivered to the concerned office bearer either by hand or by registered post at the Gram Panchayat office and another copy shall be sent by registered post at his residential address. (3) The prescribed authority on receipt of the motion shall satisfy himself that it conforms to the requirements of sub-sec- tion (2) and on his satisfaction shall specially convene, by issue of notice, within five working days of the receipt of the motion, a meeting of the Gram Panchayat 6 to be held in its office fixing date and hour of the meeting and sending such notice at least before clear seven days to each of its existing members for consideration of the motion and for taking a decision on it. (4) The meeting referred to in sub-section (3) shall be held on a working day which shall not be later than fifteen working days from the date of receipt of the motion by the prescribed authority and the meeting so convened shall not be adjourned or cancelled except in pursuance of an order or direction of a competent court or for any other reason beyond control of the prescribed authority. * * * * * * (10) On receipt of the minutes of the meeting and the report under sub-section (9), the prescribed authority shall, within next five working days, take such action as he may deem fit and the entire process commencing from submission of motion to the prescribed authority up to the action finally taken by him shall be completed within thirty days.” 8. It is also evident from the language of Section 12(4) that the meeting referred to under Section 12(2) shall not be held beyond 15 working days from the date of receipt of motion by the prescribed authority. By the time the order was passed, the period prescribed under 12(4) as also 12(10) had expired. The language used in section 12(4) makes the time 7 period of 15 working days for holding the meeting mandatory, except under certain circumstances. 9. Section 12(10) provides that the entire process has to be completed within 30 days, that is, not only holding of the meeting but also forwarding of the minutes of the meeting by the presiding officer, submission of a separate report in writing with a copy of the, minutes of the meeting and taking such action as the prescribed authority may deem fit. The learned Court failed to consider the mandatory time limits specified under each sub-section of Section 12. This motion loses its validity after a period of 30 days. 10. Under such circumstances, the order impugned is set aside. However, the right of the requisitionists to remove the Pradhan is a legal and democratic right. The requisitionists shall be at liberty to bring another motion in accordance with law and the prescribed authority is directed to comply with the provision of law without unnecessarily delaying the issue, for whatever reason. The prescribed authority is the creature of a statute and cannot make excuses for his inaction. We take judicial notice of his failure in the first round. 11. We are informed that the meeting was held and the appellant has been removed by majority vote. The Upa Pradhan has also been removed. Under such 8 circumstances, although we set aside the order of Her Lordship including the consequential steps taken by the prescribed authority and the result of the meeting dated August 18, 2026, we direct that the appellant shall not discharge his functions in the capacity of the Pradhan. This is being directed, in order to avoid any kind of disruption and disorderliness that may take place in the gram panchayat, as majority of the members are against the appellant. Under such circumstances, the Block Development Officer will monitor the day to day function of the gram panchayat, till the fresh requisition is brought by the requisitionists on the basis of the liberty granted by us, is reached to its logical conclusion. He will not take any major policy and financial decisions. 12. In the event the next motion is carried through, the prescribed authority will take steps in accordance with law and the appellant will not have any further right to the office of the Pradhan. The newly elected Pradhan thereafter shall take charge. If the meeting is held but, the motion is not carried either due to lack of quorum or due to lack of majority support, in that event the appellant shall be reinstated as the Pradhan. 13. It is made clear that the appellant will not adopt any tactic to avoid service of the motion. If the motion is 9 in order, the meeting will be held and the police authorities will provide adequate protection/assistance. 14. Accordingly, the appeal and the connected application are disposed of. 15. Urgent photostat certified copy of the order, if applied for, be given to the parties, upon usual undertakings. (Shampa Sarkar, J.) (Arjun Ray Mukherjee, J.)