Odisha HC Sets Aside Sarpanch’s No-Confidence Notice: 14 Clear Days From Dispatch, No Proof Requisition And Resolution Were Enclosed.

The petitioner, the elected Sarpanch of Tikhiri Gram Panchayat, challenged a notice dated 27 July 2026 convening a no-confidence meeting for 13 August 2026.

She alleged that the notice was served on her father without the requisition and proposed resolution, and that the notice later received by her brother by post also lacked those documents. She had requested the Sub-Collector and Collector to provide the enclosures.

The State maintained that the notice and enclosures had been sent to the petitioner and Ward Members; it relied, in part, on the weight of the postal envelopes. The Sub-Collector’s affidavit stated that the notice was dispatched on 28 July, while the Court’s assessment of the record found dispatch on 29 July 2026. The meeting was challenged before it could take place

Section 24(2)(c) of the Odisha Grama Panchayats Act, 1964 requires the Sub-Divisional Officer to give members notice of the meeting, accompanied by copies of the requisition and proposed resolution, at least fifteen clear days before the meeting; the document requirement is mandatory under Nabanita Kapat Patra v. Collector, Kandhamal, W.A. No. 1367 of 2025, reported in 2025 (III) ILR-CUT-1221

Under the Full Bench decision in Sarat Padhi v. State of Orissa, AIR 1988 Ori 116, the duty to issue notice and the fifteen-day interval between notice and meeting are mandatory, while non-receipt or short service on a member is ordinarily directory

Applying Nilambar Majhi v. Secretary to Government of Orissa, 2005 SCC OnLine Ori 247, the notice period is calculated from dispatch—not merely the date on which the notice was signed—and excludes both the dispatch date and the meeting date

Clause (e), which prevents invalidation merely because a member has not received notice, does not excuse a failure to comply with the statutory requirements governing a valid notice

The Court harmonised Nabanita Kapat Patra and Sarat Padhi: the former governed the mandatory inclusion of the requisition and proposed resolution, while the latter governed the consequences of non-receipt or late receipt.

Applying the dispatch-based calculation in Nilambar Majhi, the Court excluded 29 July, the dispatch date, and 13 August, the meeting date, leaving only fourteen clear days. Clause (e) did not cure that shortfall.

As to the enclosures, the State did not specifically answer the petitioner’s representations or establish that they had been supplied. Consistent with Manamati Pujari v. State of Odisha, the envelope’s weight alone could not prove its contents

It set aside the notice dated 27 July 2026 and all consequential action, allowed the writ petition, and made no order as to costs