HP High Court stays Govt move to oust Tribal PRIs before term ends
Shimla, June 30
In a significant interim setback to the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led Himachal Pradesh Government, the Himachal Pradesh High Court has stayed the State Government’s notification advancing the assumption of office by newly elected Panchayati Raj representatives in the tribal areas of Keylong in Lahaul and Spiti district and Pangi in Chamba district.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia and Justice Bipin C. Negi passed the interim order while hearing a petition filed by Deepak Chauhan and others challenging the State Government’s notification dated June 24, 2026, which dissolved the existing Gram Panchayats, Panchayat Samitis and Zila Parishads in the two tribal sub-divisions with immediate effect. The Bench issued notices to the respondents, sought their replies and listed the matter for further hearing on August 12, 2026.
The petitioners contended that the tenure of the existing Panchayati Raj Institutions was constitutionally protected until October 17, 2026. Although elections in the tribal areas were held on May 26, 28 and 30, 2026, pursuant to directions of the Supreme Court to complete the electoral process by May 31, the State had not dissolved the existing institutions before conducting the elections, resulting in two elected bodies existing simultaneously.
The State defended its decision by invoking Section 120(4) of the Himachal Pradesh Panchayati Raj Act, inserted through the 2025 amendment, which provides that Panchayats constituted later due to force majeure conditions would have a concurrent tenure with Panchayats elsewhere in the State.
However, the High Court observed that the petitioners had acquired a vested right to continue in office for their full five-year tenure and that such a right could not be taken away through the impugned notification. The Bench further noted that the State had itself notified October 18, 2026 as the date for the first meeting of the newly elected representatives on June 6, but subsequently modified the notification on June 24, advancing the first meeting to June 27, thereby adversely affecting the rights of the existing elected bodies.
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Holding that the matter involved a larger public interest, the High Court stayed the June 24 notification and its subsequent modification. It ordered that the petitioners and all similarly situated elected representatives shall continue in office until further orders.
The order is being viewed as another judicial challenge to the State Government’s handling of local body governance. The government is already facing litigation before the High Court over the extension of the tenure of the Shimla Municipal Corporation Mayor and Deputy Mayor from two-and-a-half years to five years, where the validity of retrospective extension through legislative amendment is also under scrutiny.
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