Bhubaneswar: A lady sarpanch from the district was disqualified from the post on Thursday for not knowing Odia and submitting a fake cast certificate while filing her nomination form. According to the 1994 Odisha Gram Panchayat Act, a person is ineligible of holding any position in a gram panchayat if he or she does not know how to write and speak Odia. Such a person cannot contest any post too.
M Laxmi was elected as the sarpanch of Aryapali gram panchayat under Chhatrapur block of the district during the panchayat polls held in the year 2017.
Civil Judge Senior Division Court in Chhatrapur adjudicating the petition filed in this regard unseated her from the Sarpanch post for not having the knowledge of Odia language.
Earlier on 5 March, a sarpanch in Ganjam district lost his post after a court disqualified him over charges that he did not know Odia, and had two wives and six children, all of which made him ineligible under the Odisha Gram Panchayat Act, 1994.
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