{"id":358856,"date":"2025-09-03T16:30:30","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T11:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/?p=358856"},"modified":"2025-09-16T18:24:41","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T12:54:41","slug":"manipur-hc-quashes-law-allowing-panchayat-members-term-in-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2025\/09\/03\/manipur-hc-quashes-law-allowing-panchayat-members-term-in-office\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Creates confusion, absurdity and anomaly\u2019; Manipur High Court quashes law allowing Panchayat members to continue in office beyond 5 years"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Manipur High Court:<\/span> In the petitions challenging the legality of Section 22(3) of Manipur Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Act, 1996 (&#8216;Amendment Act&#8217;) which allowed the members of Panchayat to continue to hold office even after expiry of the 5-year tenure, the Division Bench of <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Kempaiah Somashekar, CJ<\/span> and<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"> A. Guneshwar Sharma, J.<\/span>, while allowing the petitions, held that the amendment in the Section <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001635280\" target=\"_blank\">22(3)<\/a> of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-9000724135\" target=\"_blank\">Manipur Panchayati Raj Act, 1994<\/a> (MPR Act) was ultra vires and violative of Article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001575000\" target=\"_blank\">243-E<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0002726967\" target=\"_blank\">Constitution<\/a>. The Court stated that amendment in Section <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001635280\" target=\"_blank\">22(3)<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-9000724135\" target=\"_blank\">MPR Act<\/a>, replacing the word &#8216;cease&#8217; by &#8216;continue&#8217; is illogical and is without any fruitful purpose, except for creating two bodies vying for the same power and function.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\">Accordingly, the Court stated that the amendment in Section <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001635280\" target=\"_blank\">22(3)<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-9000724135\" target=\"_blank\">MPR Act<\/a> could be quashed on the ground of absurdity and accordingly, retained the original word &#8220;cease&#8221; in Section <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001635280\" target=\"_blank\">22(3)<\/a> of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-9000724135\" target=\"_blank\">MPR Act<\/a>, thereby removing the dual set of governing bodies functioning as Gram Panchayat at the same time. Additionally, the Court held that the purpose of an Amendment is to remove difficulties but in the instant case the amendment only created chaos in the governance and functioning of Gram Panchayat.<\/p>\n<h3>Background<\/h3>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\">The instant writ petition questioned the legality and validity of the Manipur Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Act, 1996 with respect to Section 22(3) of the parent Act i.e. MPR Act. The amendment stated that the existing members of the Panchayat will continue to be members of the Gram-Panchayat even after expiry of its 5-year term upon appointment of the Administrative Committee. This was done by replacing the original word &#8220;cease&#8221; with &#8220;continue&#8221; in the Section <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001635280\" target=\"_blank\">22(3)<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-9000724135\" target=\"_blank\">MPR Act<\/a> by Section 6 of the Amendment Act.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\">Thus, the State government based on the Amendment Act issued various orders appointing the Administrative Committees for period exceeding 6 months, till the elections were held. These directions by the State Government were also challenged by the petitioners.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\">The petitioners contended that allowing the elected members to continue by impliedly extending the terms of the Panchayat till the notification of the election is ultra vires to the mandate of Article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001575000\" target=\"_blank\">243E<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0002726967\" target=\"_blank\">Constitution<\/a> as well as Section <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001635278\" target=\"_blank\">20<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-9000724135\" target=\"_blank\">MPR Act<\/a>. The said provisions provided that the tenure of a Panchayat cannot exceed 5 years from the date of its first sitting.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\">Further, it was contended by the petitioners that the said Amendment Act allowed individuals to continue exercising public functions without fresh electoral validation. This violated the principle of representative democracy and defeated the core purpose of the 73<span style=\"vertical-align: super;\">rd<\/span> Constitutional Amendment, 1992 which inserted Part IX to the Constitution to institutionalize time-bound, participatory, and autonomous local self-governance.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\">The petitioners also submitted that tenure of the local body provided under Article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001575000\" target=\"_blank\">243-E<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001575016\" target=\"_blank\">243U<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0002726967\" target=\"_blank\">Constitution<\/a> is for a period of 5 years and the State Legislature lacks legislative competence to extend the period of 5 years in contravention to the mandatory provision of Articles <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001575000\" target=\"_blank\">243E<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001575016\" target=\"_blank\">243U<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0002726967\" target=\"_blank\">Constitution<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>Analysis, Law and Decision<\/h3>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\">The Court noted that tenure of a Gram Panchayat is 5 years from the day of its first sitting, was a mandatory provision of Article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001575000\" target=\"_blank\">243-E<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0002726967\" target=\"_blank\">Constitution<\/a>. Section <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001635280\" target=\"_blank\">22<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-9000724135\" target=\"_blank\">MPR Act<\/a> is an exception to Article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001575000\" target=\"_blank\">243-E<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0002726967\" target=\"_blank\">Constitution<\/a> and Section <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001635278\" target=\"_blank\">20<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-9000724135\" target=\"_blank\">MPR Act<\/a>, which stipulated a special provision in case the election of Panchayat could not be held in time. This section mentioned the appointment of Administrative Committee or an Administrator by the Deputy Commissioner. The Administrative Committee shall consist of members qualified to be elected as Panchayat members for a period not exceeding 6 months. The said Committee, therefore, performed the functions of Gram Panchayat if the elections could not be held on time.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\">The Court pointed out that the Section <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001635280\" target=\"_blank\">22(3)<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-9000724135\" target=\"_blank\">MPR Act<\/a>, provided that upon the appointment of Administrative Committee or the Administrator, the elected members of the Gram Panchayat shall cease to be member of the Panchayat but the Amendment Act deleted the word &#8220;Administrator&#8221; and replaced the word &#8220;cease&#8221; in Section <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001635280\" target=\"_blank\">22(3)<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-9000724135\" target=\"_blank\">MPR Act<\/a> with the word &#8220;continue&#8221;. Therefore, it extended the term of the Panchayat\/Administrative Committee for an indefinite period in violation of the Article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001575000\" target=\"_blank\">243E<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0002726967\" target=\"_blank\">Constitution<\/a> and Sections <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001635278\" target=\"_blank\">20<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001635280\" target=\"_blank\">22(2)<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-9000724135\" target=\"_blank\">MPR Act<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\">Hence, the Court, opined that the Manipur Legislative Assembly lacked the legislative competence to amend Section <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001635280\" target=\"_blank\">22(3)<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-9000724135\" target=\"_blank\">MPR Act<\/a>, of introducing an amendment which impliedly extended the life of the Gram Panchayat beyond the statutory period of 5 years, till next election was conducted.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\">Thereafter, the Court held that the particular amendment was ultra vires to Article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001575000\" target=\"_blank\">243-E<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0002726967\" target=\"_blank\">Constitution<\/a> and also violated the settled principles in various decisions of the Supreme Court. Therefore, the Court applied the principle of reading down of the statute and restored the word &#8220;cease&#8221; to save the main amendment by striking out only the absurd portion, and held that the Amendment Act, with respect to introduction of the word &#8220;continue&#8221; in place of &#8220;cease&#8221; in Section <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001635280\" target=\"_blank\">22(3)<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-9000724135\" target=\"_blank\">MPR Act<\/a> was ultra vires the provisions of the Article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001575000\" target=\"_blank\">243-E<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0002726967\" target=\"_blank\">Constitution<\/a> as well as Section <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001635280\" target=\"_blank\">22(2)<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-9000724135\" target=\"_blank\">MPR Act<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\">The Court stated another ground for striking down the said amendment was the duality of the body to exercise the power, function and duty of the Gram Panchayat. This was because the amendment in question stipulated working of Administrative Committee as Gram Panchayat, notwithstanding the continuation of the tenures of the members of the Panchayat in case of delay in elections. This created a situation where two bodies functioned as Gram Panchayat at the same time.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\">The Court opined that the amendment did not serve any fruitful purpose and only created confusion, absurdity and anomaly of having dual bodies for the same office. The earlier arrangement of appointment of Administrative Committee to exercise all functions of the Panchayat and ceasing of the tenure of the elected members, was found to be more logical and practical.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\">Accordingly, the Court quashed the amendment in Section <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001635280\" target=\"_blank\">22(3)<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-9000724135\" target=\"_blank\">MPR Act<\/a> and deleted the word &#8220;continue&#8221; from the said section and retained the word &#8220;cease&#8221;. It also deleted the word &#8216;Administrator&#8217; as contained in Section <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001635280\" target=\"_blank\">22 (1)(b)(ii)<\/a>, Section <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001635280\" target=\"_blank\">22(2)<\/a>, Section <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001635280\" target=\"_blank\">22(3)<\/a> and Section <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001635280\" target=\"_blank\">22(4)<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-9000724135\" target=\"_blank\">MPR Act<\/a> and held that the amendment in Section <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001635280\" target=\"_blank\">22<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-9000724135\" target=\"_blank\">MPR Act<\/a> was ultra vires and violative of Article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001575000\" target=\"_blank\">243-E<\/a> of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0002726967\" target=\"_blank\">Constitution<\/a>. Additionally, it was held that purpose of amendment in a statute is to remove difficulties and not to create chaos, hence, the writ petition was allowed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\">[<span style=\"font-weight: bold; color: #632423;\">Mayanglambam Joykumar Singh v. State of Manipur, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink\/5kk7tdAQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2025 SCC OnLine Mani 439<\/a>, decided on 29-8-2025<\/span>]<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p>Advocates who appeared in this case:<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-left: 18pt;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Advocate for the Petitioners-<\/span> A. Romenkumar, Sr. Advocate; R.K. Banna, Advocate<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-left: 18pt;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Advocate for the Respondents-<\/span> H. Debendra, Dy. Advocate General; A. Bheigya Meitei, Jr. G.A.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"color: #000080;\">Buy Constitution of India &nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ebcwebstore.com\/product\/the-constitution-of-india-coat-pocket-edition?products_id=100647\" target=\"_blank\">HERE<\/a><\/h3>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ebcwebstore.com\/product\/the-constitution-of-india-coat-pocket-edition?products_id=100647\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/ebcwebstore\/images\/the-constitution-of-india-coat-pocket-edition-Gopal-Sankaranarayanan-ebc-front-cover.JPG\" alt=\"Constitution of India\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-294438\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-style: italic;\">The amendment in Section 22(3) of Manipur Panchayati Raj Act, 1994 created dual governing bodies for the same office by extending the tenure of Panchayat members to an indefinite period, when elections cannot be held within time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67011,"featured_media":360383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[88527,88522,88523,7471,88524,88526,88525,88528],"class_list":["post-358856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-casebriefs","category-highcourts","tag-article-243-e-of-constitution","tag-chief-justice-kempaiah-somashekar","tag-justice-a-guneshwar","tag-manipur-high-court","tag-manipur-panchayati-raj-act-1994","tag-manipur-panchayati-raj-amendment-act-1996","tag-mpr-act","tag-panchayat-member"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Mani HC quashes law allowing Panchayat member term in office|SCC Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Manipur High Court quashed law allowing Panchayat members&#039; 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