Team Herald
PANJIM: The Directorate of Panchayats (DoP) on Friday confirmed that the resolution adopted during the extraordinary gram sabha meeting of Loliem-Polem Village Panchayat on November 27 stands invalid.
“It was brought to my notice by some members that the Sarpanch did not attend the meeting and on the other hand it was also told to me that the secretary left the meeting without giving a valid reason. Because of that we had issued a memorandum to warn the secretary, but people took it in a wrong manner that the memorandum is an order and that the resolutions are passed,” Panchayats Director Gurudas Pilarnekar said.
“If the Sarpanch or secretary do not attend the meeting, or if both leave the meeting without giving a valid reason, in that case there is a provision that any member of the gram sabha can preside over the meeting and resolutions passed stand validated but can be challenged. However, in this case, it was brought to our notice that the sarpanch and secretary were not present at the meeting but as per the inquiry by the department we found that both were present and the meeting was adjourned,” he said.
He added, “To be clear all the resolutions taken by the extraordinary gram sabha meeting of Loliem-Polem headed by Sailesh Pagi stand invalid as the Sarpanch had adjourned the meeting after the ruckus created.”
A fresh date will be issued for the next hearing as the order cannot be directly passed as the directorate needs both the parties to be present.
“IIT is a government project and gram sabha should not be a platform for such issues. If people are opposing they should create a separate platform and not take advantage of the gram sabha,” the director said.
The gram sabha of Loliem-Polem was adjourned on November 27 and voting on the IIT postponed due to confusion over the number of voters. Over 1500 villagers had attended the gram sabha but Sarpanch Bhushan Prabhugaonkar said he could not allow voting on setting up of the IIT in the village as hardly 700 people had signed the register.
Chaos marked the meeting as IIT supporters and opponents had mobilized people with equal strength and the meeting was adjourned.
