The Himachal Pradesh High Court on Monday issued notice to the state government over alleged shifting of funds or unequal allotment of funds among the Panchayati Raj Institutions members in violation of guidelines of the 15th Finance Commission.

The HC has issued notice to Chief Secretary, Additional Chief Secretary (Finance), Principal Secretary (Panchayati Raj), Deputy Commissioner, Kullu, Block Development Officer, Anni and Panchayat Inspector, Anni and have asked to file their reply within two weeks.

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The orders were passed by a division bench comprising acting Chief Justice Ravi Malimath and Justice Jyotsna Rewal Dua on a petition taken up suo moto as PIL on a letter written by five members of Block Development Committee (BDC) Anni.

The petitioners alleged that the budget was provided by the 15th Finance Commission for all the members of the BDC and they prepared the scheme on its basis after which it was sent to the Panchayat Inspector for approval.

However, the chairperson of BDC, in connivance with the Panchayat Inspector, shuffled the entire budget shelf which was prepared by the petitioners and allocated their share to other members at their own level.

When confronted, the chairperson could not offer any plausible explanation, except that the decision had been taken by the majority of the house, they alleged.

The petitioners further alleged that as per guidelines of the 15th Finance Commission, the budget has to be equally allocated among all the PRIs representatives and no deviation can be made by the chairperson or majority decision of the house.

The guidelines have been flagrantly violated by the BDC chairperson by curtailing their budgets and shifting the same to the members of her choice which is unjust and unfair as they are also public representatives and are answerable to the people of their areas.

They had also raised the issue with Block Development Officer, Anni, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Kullu and also Deputy Commissioner but to no avail.

They demanded strict action against the Chairperson and Panchayat Inspector for their failure to follow the guidelines and taking unilateral decisions to reshuffle the budget shelf.

The court posted the matter after two weeks and also directed the respondents to file their replies by the next date.