Shimla, March 10: The Himachal Pradesh High Court has quashed the state government’s decision to shift Village Manlog Badog from Gram Panchayat Hanuman Badog to Gram Panchayat Darlaghat in Solan district, calling the move arbitrary, unreasonable and contrary to ground realities.
A Division Bench comprising Justice Vivek Singh Thakur and Justice Ranjan Sharma set aside the state notification dated January 27, 2026, which had excluded Manlog Badog from Hanuman Badog Panchayat and merged it with Darlaghat.
The petition was filed by the Nehru Yuva Club and Mahila Mandal of Manlog Badog, who argued that most residents opposed the merger and had strong social and economic ties with neighbouring Hanuman Badog.
They also contended that the two villages are contiguous and connected by a short Panchayat road.
During the hearing, the court noted that the actual distance between Manlog Badog and Hanuman Badog is only about 2–3 km, while Darlaghat lies around 6 km away.
The bench criticized the authorities for calculating distance through a much longer route of over 12 km via Piplughat and Damlanaghati, terming such calculation “irrational and unreasonable.”
The court also observed that population and geographical realities were ignored in the decision. While Manlog Badog has a population of around 280, Hanuman Badog Panchayat has about 1,500 residents, whereas Darlaghat has nearly 4,500, making the merger unjustified.
Holding that the decision was manifestly arbitrary, the High Court quashed the notification along with the proposed delimitation of the two panchayats based on that reorganization.
The court has directed the state authorities to issue fresh notifications for constitution and delimitation of Gram Panchayats Hanuman Badog and Darlaghat within five days.
The bench also expressed concern that the state was undertaking large-scale reorganization of Panchayati Raj institutions close to elections, warning that such last-minute exercises could delay the process and lead to unnecessary litigation.
