20.08.2026 Court No. 12 Item No.01 Cp MAT 1316 of 2026 With CAN 1 of 2026 Papiya Biswas Vs. The State of West Bengal & Ors. Mr. Debabrata Ray Mr. Prabir Majumder Mr. Snehansu Majumder Ms. Sarbani Mukhopadhyay Ms. Anindita Kundu …..for the appellant. Mr. Sounak Bhattacharya Mr. Tirthankar Mukherjee Ms. Madhurima Sarkar Mr. Munshi Ashiq Hati Mr. Rohit Mahato Ms. Sucheta Banerjee ….for the respondent nos. 7 to 9. Mr. J. Mukherjee Mr. Amit Kumar Ray ……for the State respondents. 1. The appeal arises out of an order dated July 23, 2026, passed in WPCRC 133 of 2026. By the order impugned, the learned Single Judge while deciding the contempt application passed the following directions:- “*****6. The Secretary, Panchayat and Rural Development Department is directed to take note of the functioning of the contemnor as Pradhan of the Hat Khola Gram Panchayat. The Secretary may also consider appointing an Administrator to take over the management of the Panchayet and maintain the day-to-day 2 affairs of the Panchayat so that the inhabitants of the Panchayat are not deprived of the public utility services. 7. The Officer-in-Charge of the Chapra Police Station is directed to cause an investigation into the bank accounts and other financial details of the contemnor to ascertain the nature of transactions reflected in his bank account. The contemnor is directed to disclose all her bank details to the Officer-in-Charge of the Hat Khola Police Station (sic). If any illegality is detected, then necessary steps, in accordance with law, shall be taken. 8. The investigation report shall be produced before this Court on the adjourned date. 9. The matter is made returnable on 20th August, 2026. 10. The Pradhan shall remain personally present in Court on the adjourned date. 11. Learned advocate of the petitioner is directed to communicate this order to the Secretary, Panchayat and Rural Development and to the Officer-in-Charge of the Chapra Police Station.****” 2. These directions were passed on the observation of Her Lordship which is quoted below:- “***4. The issue relates to unauthorized construction. As the Pradhan is absolutely not in a position to deal with the issue of unauthorized construction and the same is beyond her competence, the Court is compelled to direct the Block Development Officer, Chapra to collect the file of the subject case and forward the same to the Sub Divisional Officer to take a decision on the allegation of unauthorized construction made by the private respondent and take steps to comply the order passed by the Court on 16th April, 2024.” 3. We understand the predicament of the Court in a contempt proceeding when the alleged contemnor repeatedly flouts the order. The Pradhan did not comply with the order and failed to understand the implications thereof. Inspite of extending several 3 opportunities and issuing Rule, the Pradhan did not take steps as directed in the writ petition. 4. However, as the Pradhan is an elected member of the gram panchayat and holds office as the pradhan on the vote of the majority members of the gram panchayat, the directions passed by Her Lordship will take away all the rights conferred upon such elected representative under the law. The process of removal of the Pradhan must be in accordance with the law. 5. In the event Her Lordship was satisfied that the Pradhan was in contempt, steps should have been taken under the Contempt of Courts Act. Although the BDO has sought to file a report, we do not take cognizance of the same at this stage. 6. Learned advocate for the writ petitioner is present and it is submitted that the purported report which was sought to be filed before Her Lordship by the Pradhan was prepared without giving any opportunity to the writ petitioners/respondent nos. 7, 8 and 9, to be present during inspection and put forward their case before the gram panchayat. 7. Under such circumstances, the order impugned as also the decision of the gram panchayat are set aside. We request Her Lordship to revisit the issue on the basis of the observations made by us. 4 8. Let the matter appear before Her Lordship on the date fixed, i.e. on October 1, 2026. Within which time, the gram panchayat shall comply with the order of Her Lordship passed in the writ petition, in its letter and spirit. 9. An inspection of the premises shall be held in the presence of the parties. The writ petitioners as also the person(s) responsible for the construction shall be present for such inspection on August 31, 2026. The report of inspection shall be prepared and supplied to the concerned parties. Parties will respond to the same and, thereafter, an order will be passed afresh, upon hearing all the parties. The same shall be produced before Her Lordship. 10. In the event, it is found that the construction is in violation of law, the records will be sent to the Sub-Divisional Officer in terms of Section 23 (5) of the West Bengal Panchayat Act, 1973. 11. Accordingly, the appeal and the connected application are disposed of. 12. Parties are directed to act on the basis of the server copy of this order. (Shampa Sarkar, J.) (Arjun Ray Mukherjee, J.)