September 8, 2026 (20) ARDR WPA 24124 of 2026 Saheeda Khatun Vs. The State of West Bengal & ors. Adv. Tanmoy Chattopadhyay, …for the petitioner. Adv. Sarwar Jahan, Adv. Anindya Ghosh, Adv. Souvik Das, …for the private respondent no.10. Adv. Suman Chattopadhyay, Adv. Vicky Kumar Roy, …for the State. The petitioner who is an erstwhile member of Alipur II Gram Panchayat has assailed the order passed by the Prescribed Authority on 21st August, 2026 under Section 11(1)(d) of The West Bengal Panchayat Act, 1973 directing her removal from the office of the Panchayat. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the notices of meetings held by the Panchayat were not served upon her and she has not been given a copy of the clarification as referred to in the order impugned. There has therefore been infraction of natural justice. Learned counsel has placed reliance on the authority in Surinderpal Chamanlal Aggarwal HUF vs. State of Maharashtra Notice to be served through Ministry of Finance reported in 2024 SCC OnLine Bombay 6340 in support of his contention. Opposing such allegation, learned counsel for the private respondent submits that the notices of meetings held in the Panchayat are served upon the members through Meeting Management System wherein all the members need to register themselves by making an application and providing their contact details. The notices 2 of meetings were accordingly intimated to the petitioner despite which she failed to attend more than three consecutive meetings for which the application under Section 11(1)(d) of the Act was filed, seeking her removal from the office. Also, the order is appealable. It is trite law that in the event an order is made in gross violation of the principles of natural justice and fair play, a writ petition is maintainable despite there being an alternative efficacious remedy. Herein, the petitioner appeared before the authority and submitted her written objection which has been dealt with by the authority in the order impugned. The order refers to the Meeting Management System which was mentioned by the Additional District Magistrate, Malda as clarification of procedure of delivery of meeting notices. The order impugned also refers to a memo dated 7th August, 2026. The petitioner has stated before the Prescribed Authority that she was absent in the meetings held by the Gram Panchayat on at least four dates. In view of the fact that sufficient opportunity of hearing was granted to the petitioner before the order impugned was passed, there does not appear to be any infraction of natural justice. Since the order is appealable, the petitioner is at liberty to approach the appellate forum for redressal of her grievance. She is debarred from taking a shortcut before the writ Court for such redressal in view of availability of alternative efficacious relief. The writ petition, being devoid of merit, is dismissed. There shall however, be no order as to costs. 3 Urgent certified website copy of this order, if applied for, be supplied to the parties upon compliance with all requisite formalities. (Suvra Ghosh, J.)