- (1.)This writ petition raises an interesting question-whether the Mandal President can take preemptive action prohibiting the other members of the Mandal Parishad from moving a no confidence motion against her.
(2.)Section 245 of the A. P. Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 ('the Act' for brevity) deals with motion of no confidence in Upa- Sarpanch, President or Chairman. The same reads as under: Motion of No Confidence in Upa-Sarpanch, President or Chairman :(1) A motion expressing want of confidence in the UpaSarpanch or President or Vice-President or Chairman or Vice-Chairman may be made by giving a written notice of intention to move the motion in such form and to such authority as may be prescribed, signed by not less than one-half of the total number of members of the Gram Panchayat, Mandal Parishad, or as the case may be the Zilla Parishad and further action on such notice shall be taken in accordance with the procedure prescribed: Provided that no notice of motion under this section shall be made within two years of the date of assumption of office by the person against whom the motion is sought to be moved; Provided further that no such notice shall be made against the same person more than once during his term of office. Explanation : For the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that for the purpose of this section the expression "total number of members" means, all the members who are entitled to vote in the election to the office concerned inclusive of the Sarpanch, President or Chairman but irrespective of any vacancy existing in the office of such members at the time of meeting: Provided that a suspended office-bearer or member shall also be taken into consideration for computing the total number of members and he shall also be entitled to vote in a meeting held under this section. (2) If the motion is carried with the support of two-thirds of the total number of members in the case of a Upa-Sarpanch, the Commissioner shall and in the case of the President or Vice-President or the Chairman or Vice-Chairman, the Government shall by notification remove him form office and the resulting vacancy shall be filled in the same manner as a casual vacancy.
(3.)More than half of the members can give notice of intention to move a motion to express no confidence in Upa-Sarpanch, sarpanch or Chairman, as the case may be, and such notice has to be dealt with in accordance with rules prescribed by the Government in G.O. Ms. No.200 dated 28.4.2003 i.e., Rules relating to motion of no-confidence in Upa-Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat, President or Vice-President of Mandal Parishad or Vice-Chairman/ Chairman of Zilla Parishad. The first proviso to sub-section (1) of Section 245 provides that a notice of motion to express no confidence as contemplated under sub-section (1) shall not be made within two years from the date of assumption of office by the person against whom such motion is moved. Second proviso says that the notice of no confidence motion shall be moved only once during the term of his office. That is to say, the legislature provides that only one opportunity to more than half members to move a motion of no confidence against Upa-Sarpanch, President or Chairman, as the case may be, and when once such motion is moved and assuming such motion is defeated by majority of members in the meeting convened for the purpose in accordance with Rule 3 of the Rules, no motion of confidence can be moved. The Legislature intending to impose a check on the abuse of power by the elected member has taken care that democracy, at the gross root level, is not subverted by repeated attempts to move a motion of no confidence against an elected member. This provision is being misused is the contention raised in this writ petition.