SPECIAL APPEAL No. 128 of 2026 at Lucknow

HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD LUCKNOW SPECIAL APPEAL No. - 128 of 2026 Deepak Tripathi .....Appellant(s) Versus State Of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. Panchayat Raj Deptt. Lko. And 3 Others .....Respondent(s) Counsel for Appellant(s) : P.K. Mishra Counsel for Respondent(s) : C.S.C., Lalla Ji Maurya Court No. - 1 HON'BLE RAJAN ROY, J. HON'BLE ABDHESH KUMAR CHAUDHARY, J. 1. Heard. 2. This is an appeal under Chapter VIII Rule 5 of the Allahabad High Court Rules, 1952 against the judgment and order dated 05.02.2026 passed in Writ-C No.107 of 2026 'Anil Kumar vs. State of U.P. & Ors.'. 3. After hearing the parties and perusing the records including the impugned judgment, we find that the appellant though a member of Gram Panchayat does not belong to OBC category whereas the post of Gram Pradhan on which deceased-Ori Lal was elected was reserved for OBC category. Therefore, we do not find any error in the judgment of learned Single Judge when he says that even for officiating purposes under Section 12-J of the U.P. Panchyat Raj Act, 1947 even if, with consultation of the members of the gram panchayat, an OBC category person alone could have been directed to officiate as Gram Pradhan. As