UP Panchayat Chunav: After getting a blow from the High Court, UP government is going to make a big move next week.

In UP, the legal battle regarding the tenure of village heads and their becoming administrators has now reached a very interesting turn. After getting a blow from Allahabad High Court, now the Uttar Pradesh government is preparing for a big legal maneuver. In fact, the High Court had clearly said that after the end of the tenure, village heads cannot be handed over the chair of administrator. But now news is coming that the state government is going to file a big appeal against this decision next week. Its complete outline has been prepared at the government level.

UP Panchayat Election Amidst this ongoing tug of war, the functioning of the village government is on the verge of coming to a complete halt. The tenure of village heads in Uttar Pradesh has ended on 26 May 2026 this year. After this, to maintain the system, the government adopted the old formula and issued an order to appoint only the heads as administrators. This decision of the government was challenged in the High Court, where the court declared it completely unconstitutional.

Why did the High Court shock the government?

A single bench of Justice Siddharth Nandan of Allahabad High Court, while hearing the case, had given a major verdict on June 25. In its order, the court, citing Articles 243 (E) and 243 (K) of the Constitution, bluntly said that under no circumstances the tenure of village heads can be extended for more than 5 years. It is completely wrong to make heads administrators by citing rules. Along with this, the High Court has given strict instructions to the UP government till July 13. UP Panchayat Election It has been ordered to present the complete outline and dates before the court.

Panchayati Raj Act and government’s argument

Now the question arises that on what basis is the government going to approach the court again? In fact, there is a special provision in sub-section (3-A) of Section 12 of the Uttar Pradesh Panchayati Raj Act 1947. This sub-section was added through a historical amendment in April 1994. Under this, if the government is unable to conduct elections before the end of its tenure due to some extraordinary circumstances, then it can appoint an administrator or administrative committee to run the affairs of the villages. According to sources, the government machinery believes that since this sub-section is still part of the statute book and has not been removed, the government order was completely legal.

‘Prem Lal Patel case’ became a hurdle in the way of the government

However, an old legal decision stands as a wall in front of this argument of the government. Earlier, in the highly discussed case of ‘Prem Lal Patel vs. State of Uttar Pradesh’, the High Court had ruled that postponing the elections indefinitely by taking recourse to Section 12 (3-A) or arbitrarily extending the tenure of the heads is completely unconstitutional. Now experts say that the government is preparing to appeal for reconsideration or before the division bench next week to solve this problem and to prove its interpretation of the law correct.

The matter is now completely entangled in legal complications. On one hand, there is a fear of stalling of development work in villages, while on the other hand, the deadline of July 13 is hanging like a sword over the government’s head. Now it remains to be seen what will be the attitude of the court on this appeal of the government next week and by when will the villages of UP get their new government.