Elected Panchayat Member Has No Enforceable Right To Seek Departmental Action Against Employee: MP High Court
The Madhya Pradesh High Court has held that an elected member of the Panchayat has no enforceable right to seek a writ of mandamus for initiating departmental action against an employee. [2026 LiveLaw (MP) 400]
Emphasizing that a writ of mandamus is used for the enforcement of a legal right and corresponding statutory/public duty, the bench of Justice Vivek Kumar Singh observed:
"The fact that the petitioner is an elected member of the Janpad Panchayat and has submitted representations regarding the functioning of an employee does not, by itself, confer a right upon him to seek a writ of mandamus for initiating departmental action against such employee".
A writ petition was filed against the inaction of the Collector/ Mission Director of MP State Rural Livelihood Mission (Respondent No. 3) in considering the representation submitted by the petitioner.
In the said representation, the petitioner alleged certain irregularities and illegalities of the Assistant Block Manager/ Assistant Livelihood Manager (Respondent No. 5) of Ajaygarh in the concerned Panchayat.
The counsel for the petitioner argued that he is an elected member of the concerned Janpad Panchayat and submitted various representations alleging irregularities and illegalities, including the removal of members of Self Help Groups, financial irregularities, and misappropriation of public funds.
It was submitted that respondent no. 5 was transferred to Block Shahnagar but continued to remain at Block Ajaygarh. It was also submitted that the uncle of respondent no. 5 is posted as Mission Officer in the same Panchayat. It was argued that despite repeated representations, no action was taken by the competent authority.
The counsel for the Government Advocate appearing for the State argued that the concerns raised by him concern service posting and therefore do not confer an independent cause of action on the petitioner to seek writ jurisdiction.
In the present case, the court noted that the petitioner failed to demonstrate any enforceable legal right of his own which is being affected. Therefore, the court was not inclined to grant the prayer and dismissed the petition.
For Petitioner: Advocate Surya Kumar Patel
For State: Government Advocate Vijayendra Singh Choudhary