A no-confidence motion against a Sarpanch cannot be moved within one year of election.

The petitioner was elected Sarpanch of Kuvasana Gram Panchayat on 22 June 2025. On 8 May 2026, the Vice-Sarpanch and five other members moved a no-confidence motion against him. A special meeting was held on 1 June 2026, at which six members voted in favour of the motion; the resolution removing the petitioner was challenged in this writ petition.

The petitioner contended that the motion was moved before completion of one year from his election, contrary to the principle stated in Shivangiben Chetankumar Patel v. State of Gujarat.

1. Whether a no-confidence motion against an elected Sarpanch may be moved within one year of the Sarpanch’s election

2. Whether the resolution removing the petitioner, passed pursuant to a motion moved within that period, could be sustained

Section 56 of the Gujarat Panchayats Act, 1993 provides for a no-confidence motion but, as described by the Court, does not prescribe a specific time restriction for moving one.

In Shivangiben Chetankumar Patel v. State of Gujarat, Letters Patent Appeal No. 543 of 2017, decided 9 May 2018, the Division Bench held that, having regard to Section 13 of the Act, the executive functions of a Sarpanch under Section 55, and the object of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992, a reasonable period of one year should elapse from the date of declaration of the election result before a no-confidence motion against a Sarpanch may be moved.

The petitioner had been elected on 22 June 2025, while the motion was moved on 8 May 2026—within one year. The Court applied the one-year reasonable-period principle in Shivangiben Patel and noted that the respondents did not controvert that legal proposition.

Since the motion was moved before the one-year period had elapsed, the resulting resolution removing the petitioner could not be sustained.

The Court set aside both the notice dated 8 May 2026 and Resolution No. 11 passed at the meeting on 1 June 2026. The petition was allowed, with no order as to costs.