Shimla, March 11 -- Himachal Pradesh high court (HC) on Tuesday quashed the state government's decision to exclude Manlog Badog village from Hanuman Badog gram panchayat and merge it with Darlaghat gram panchayat in Solan district.

The division bench, comprising justice Vivek Singh Thakur and justice Ranjan Sharma, held that the move was "manifestly arbitrary, unreasonable and irrational", while allowing a writ petition filed by the Nehru Yuva Club and Mahila Mandal of Manlog-Badog village. The petition challenged the January 27, 2026, notification issued by the state government to reorganise the panchayat boundaries.

Questioning the state over why it was undertaking reorganisation, the HC bench said: "We fail to understand that when 5 ...