Asurali: The sarpanch of Bayangdihi panchayat under Dhamnagar block in Bhadrak district had to let go of her post as she could not read or write Odia, sources said Monday. Outgoing Bayangdihi sarpanch Kuntala Mallik, who had won the last panchayat election by defeating opponent Bharati Behera, lost the post and naib sarpanch Pradeep Barik assumed the charge as sarpanch Monday.
Following her defeat, Bharati had filed a petition in court to disqualify the elected sarpanch based on inability to read or write Odia language. The court after hearing the case ordered the District Collector to remove Kuntala from the post as she could not prove herself literate. Although Kuntala appealed to the High Court against the judgement of the lower court, she could not prove herself literate and finally lost her position. As per the directive of Bhadrak Sub-Collector Manoj Patra, the responsibility of sarpanch has been given to naib sarpanch Pradeep Barik in the presence of the Panchayat Executive Officer (PEO). The executive officer administered the oath to Pradeep.
According to sources, Kuntala was not leaving her post even after repeated notices. Finally, a notice was passed in front of Kuntala’s residence as per the sub-collector’s order. In his letter, the Sub-Collector further mentioned that the notification regarding the by-election for the sarpanch post will be issued later.
