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2-child norm: Dist panchayat member wins fight

After knocking on doors of various authorities, Ahmedabad District Panchayat (ADP) member Savitaben Rathod

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Ahmedabad District Panchayat
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After knocking on doors of various authorities, Ahmedabad District Panchayat (ADP) member Savitaben Rathod, whose election was challenged in 2016, got relief from the Gujarat High Court on Wednesday.

The first division bench of chief justice R Subhash Reddy and justice Vipul Pancholi has allowed the Congress member Rathod's appeal to continue as the member of the 34-member district panchayat. She was elected from the Ghangad seat in the general elections held on November 29, 2015.

In January 2016, Mobubhai Chauhan had challenged her election before the Additional Development Commissioner, alleging that she was mother of three children and as per the Panchayat Act's section 30 (1)(m), no candidate having three children can contest the elections. The Act also states that if one has hid the information and got elected, the member stands to get disqualified.

Petitioner Savitaben's contention was that she had three children before the cut off date August 4, 2006 and thus can't be disqualified as member. Additional Commissioner concluded that Savitaben has incurred disqualification under the said Act. Meanwhile, as Rathod produced the third child's two birth certificates (issued by different authorities) before the Additional Commissioner and Development Commissioner, the latter concluded that date of birth of third child can be decided only by the civil court.

While one certificate that Rathod had produced carried date of birth of her third child as April 22, 2004, the other depicted it as August 2, 2006.

Aggrieved with this order, Rathod challenged this before the single bench judge which too did not grant any relief and upheld the Development Commissioner's order. Aggrieved with this order, she had challenged it before the division bench which granted her relief.

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