The command was issued after the father-in-law, husband, and brother-in-law of appointed women representatives in at least three panchayats of Damoh, Sagar, and Dhar districts administered the official oath.
On Monday the Panchayat Raj Department of MP provides a command directing the district collectors to take mandatory action against the officials who govern the oath of office to the un-elected people in the three-tier panchayat system and submit the action taken report.
The command was issued after the father-in-law, husband, and brother-in-law of appointed women representatives in at least three panchayats of Damoh, Sagar, and Dhar districts administered the official oath.
Alok Kumar Singh (Director of Panchayat Raj) said, ‘We have asked the related district collectors to take mandatory action in such instances.
According to reports, the swearing-in ceremony was held on August 4 during the ‘first conference’ in Jaruakheda panchayats and Jaisinagar of the Sagar district.
On the occasion, 21 elected representatives, including 10 women, from each of the two panchayats were invited to their respective Panchayat Office. But only five women in Jaruakheda and three women appeared in Jaisinagar.
When women did not come, the father-in-law of one woman, brother-in-law of another woman, and husband of two other women came and they were taken an oath by the respective village panchayat secretaries- Ashrama Sahu at Jaisinagar and Rajaram Chadu in Jarukheda.
But after videos of men taking oath instead of elected women went viral, the women were called to their respective panchayat offices and administered the oath the next day, while Sahu and Chadu were suspended the next day.
Talking to news media, Chadu said
“Out of the 10 elected women, five had come for the swearing-in ceremony, while relatives of the remaining five had come.
But there were too many men around and I couldn’t tell them to leave and they swore at each other. But the next day the elected women were administered the oath.
The wording of Sagar District Collector Deepak Arya
Sagar Dist. Collector Deepak Arya said that both the secretaries will remain suspended till the completion of the investigation by the District CEO of the District Panchayat.
“A day after the incident came to light, our observers were sent to the respective panchayat offices and the elected women representatives were administered oaths.
We will investigate the incident closely and based on the facts, further disciplinary action will be decided.
One such scene was also attended by the husband of 10 elected women including Sarpanch Lalita Ahirwar in Gaisabad Panchayat, about 80 km from Damoh.
Secretary Dhun Singh Rajput administered the oath to all the 10 people on 4th August.
But as soon as this news reached the district administration, Rajput was suspended, on the evening of August 4, another swearing-in ceremony was held and the women were called and administered the oath.
Bratesh Jain, CEO of Hatta district, under which Gaisabad panchayat falls, said: “After the video went viral, I investigated the matter and a report was sent according to which Dhun Singh Rajput was at fault as the oath was to be administered elected representative.
I have 57-gram panchayats under me, and this has happened in only one panchayat.”
Sundreli gram panchayat of Dhar Dist.
In this dist., not only the husbands of the elected women were administered the oath, but instead of the secretary, local BJP leader Radheshyam Kasarwadi also administered the oath.
Dhar Zilla Panchayat CEO KL Meena termed the incident a procedural lapse and issued a show cause notice in the matter.
Meena said, “We have sought a report to ascertain the facts and the situation which led to the incident.
More steps will be taken based on the facts of the report. A block-level committee has been constituted to probe this.
