Kerala High Court slams Grama Panchayat for prolonging litigation in ₹50k dispute

The Kerala High Court recently criticised a grama panchayat for pursuing multiple rounds of litigation over a financial dispute involving an amount of just ₹50,000 [Naduvil Graa Panchayat v The Ombudsman for Local Self Government & anr]. .The dispute began when Naduvil grama panchayat approached the Ombudsman with a complaint regarding a financial claim.When that decision was not in its favour, the panchayat moved a writ petition before a single-judge of the Kerala High Court challenging the order of the Ombudsman and thereafter a writ appeal.A Division Bench of Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice S Manu criticised this repeated litigation, especially since the amount involved was relatively small and because the legal expenses were being paid from public funds."This is the third layer of litigation the appellant panchayat has prosecuted for a quantum, as we are informed, of ₹50,000. Considering the fact that the costs of the litigation are being paid out of public funds, the Grama Panchayat should have been circumspect as to where to stop the litigation. Merely because further revenues are open, it does not mean the Panchayat should keep prosecuting regardless of the amount involved and the costs of litigation," the Court said.It criticised the panchayat for misusing public resources and stressed that just because more legal avenues were available, it did not justify continuing litigation without regard for the costs..The issue started after a panchayat resident, one Achuthan, filed a complaint against the panchayat, alleging that he was wrongfully removed from a government housing assistance scheme under the people’s planning program for 2017-2018.Initially, Achuthan was included in the beneficiary list approved by the grama sabha but he later discovered that his name had been replaced by another individual, Ahammed Kurikkalakath, despite Achuthan having higher eligibility marks.After an enquiry, the Ombudsman for Local Self Government Institutions found that Achuthan was unfairly excluded and directed the panchayat to restore his benefits.The panchayat challenged this order before a single-judge of the High Court but the single-judge dismissed the plea and upheld the Ombudsman's decision after noting that the panchayat failed to present valid reasons for removing Achuthan from the beneficiary list.Despite this clear ruling, the panchayat filed an appeal before the Division Bench of the High Court making it the third time the matter was brought to Court..The Division Bench too found no grounds to interfere with the single-judge's decision and disposed of the appeal. .Naduvil Grama Panchayat was represented by advocates TR Harikumar and Arjun Raghavan while Achuthan were represented by advocate Ramesh P..[Read Judgment]