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SC upholds will of majority in Maharashtra Panchayat case
Kashmir Times. Dated: 9/13/2021 12:51:31 AM
KT NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, Sep 11: The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal of Sangeeta Sunil Shinde against her removal as the group leader (Gatneta) of the Congress in the Shrirampur Panchayat Samiti in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, upholding the selection of Dr Vandana Dnyaneshwar Murkute to the post, holding that "in a democratic set-up, the will of the majority has to prevail."
As soon as she lost the confidence of the majority, she becomes unwanted, held a Bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Bhushan R Gavai in a 26-page long judgment written by Justice Gavai, upholding March 30 verdict of the Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court.
The Bench rejected her plea that she was elected in 2017 and so she has the right to be the group leader for five years and cannot be removed midway. It noted that the district president of Ahmednagar Congress removed her from the post in 2019 on a complaint by other members that she had not convened any meeting of the party in two-and-half years of her tenure. The district collector approved appointment of Murkute in her place in January 2020 on being informed that she has been now elected the group leader.