No-confidence Motion Upheld by Bombay High Court; Collector’s Stay Order Quashed The Bombay High Court’s Nagpur bench recently ruled that a no-confidence motion passed by a Gram Panchayat’s elected members, which removed a sarpanch from office, took immediate legal effect and could not be stayed by a district collector. The court emphasized that the “will of the majority” in democratic institutions must prevail, rejecting the collector’s attempt to grant interim relief to the sarpanch under Section 35(3B) of the Maharashtra Village Panchayats Act, 1959. The case centered on a no-confidence motion moved by seven members of the eight-member panchayat in Gram Panchayat Januna (Wadala), Barshitakli taluka. The motion was passed on February 24, 2025, and ratified by the gram sabha on March 12, 2025, following a special meeting presided over by the tehsildar on February 27. According to the law, the sarpanch was required to cease functioning immediately after the motion was approved. However, the collector of Akola district, in a September 4, 2025, order, granted an interim stay, allowing the sarpanch to continue in her role. The panchayat members challenged this order through counsel RD Karode, arguing that the collector’s interpretation of his powers was flawed. Justice Prafulla Khubalkar, presiding over the case, dismissed the collector’s stay order as “unsustainable in law,” noting that no statutory provision authorized such relief. The judge cited previous precedents to underscore that once a no-confidence motion is passed by the required majority, the office-bearer must “forthwith stop exercising all the powers and perform all the functions and duties.#bombay_high_court #gram_panchayat_januna #tehsildar #collector_akola_district #maharashtra_village_panchayats_act_1959
