The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a Haryana legislation disqualifying a gram panchayat member from becoming a sarpanch if he or she had more than two living children.
Dismissing over 200 petitions challenging the Haryana Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Act providing for the disqualification, a bench comprising Justice R C Lahoti, Justice Ashok Bhan and Justice Arun Kumar said the disqualification norm 'is not violative of Articles 14, 21, 25 of the Constitution'.
Justice Lahoti, writing for the bench, said once the disqualification has been incurred, it could not be cured by giving away one of the children to some other person in adoption.
