Kerala High Court Condemns Panchayat For Continuing Third Round Of Litigation Over ₹50K, Points Litigation Cost Being Paid From Public Fund

The Division Bench of Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice S. Manu observed that public funds were utilized for pursuing litigations and emphasized the need to know when to put an end to it.

Court said, “Considering the fact that the costs of the litigation are being paid out of public funds, the Grama Panchayat should have been circumspect as to where to stop the litigation. Merely because further revenues are open, it does not mean the Panchayat should keep prosecuting regardless of the amount involved and the costs of litigation.”

As per facts, a resident of the Naduvil Grama Panchayat filed an application for renovation of his residential building as per the people's planning programme for the year 2017-2018. It is to be noted that he was included in the beneficiary list published by the Grama Sabha and he started renovating the house. Later, the resident understood that he was removed from the beneficiary list illegally and another person was included in his place. He preferred a complaint before the Ombudsman for Local Self Government Institutions.

The Ombudsman found that the complainant was eligible to be included in the beneficiary list and ordered the Panchayat to grant him benefits.

Aggrieved by the order of the Ombudsman, the Panchayat moved a writ petition. The Writ Petition was also dismissed by directing the Panchayat to implement the order of the Ombudsman and to grant the benefits to the complainant.

Aggrieved by the order in the writ petition, the Panchayat moved this writ appeal, which is the third round of litigation.

Accordingly, the Court stated that merely because the Panchayat has an option to pursue litigations, it does not justify prosecutions in this manner.

As such, the writ appeal was disposed of.

Counsel for Appellant Panchayat: Advocates T.R.Harikumar, Arjun Raghavan

Counsel for Respondents: Advocate Ramesh P

Case Title: Naduvil Grama Panchayat V Ombudsman For Local Self Government Institutions

Case No: WA NO. 533 OF 2025

Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Ker) 211