Eager To Build School, He Gave Law The Go-By Saeed Khan | TNN Ahmedabad: His environment unfriendly actions caught up with former sarpanch Mahen-dra Chaudhary 27 years too late. Dedicated to the cause of education, he constructed a primary school in the small village of Titava in Bardoli district, south Gujarat. A grant of Rs 54,728 from taluka panchayat was not enough. So, he decided to fell trees and sent an application to authorities for sanction. bwever, before the resolution was passed in panchayat and sanction obtained, the impatient sarpanch went ahead, chopped down 92 trees and sold the timber. The Rs 35,629.82 this fetched was used to complete construction of the school in 1982. Now, Gujarat High Court has held Chaudhary guilty of breach of trust saying he should have followed procedure. He was convicted by a magisterial court in Bardoli in 1988 and sentenced to one-year jail. When his plea was rejected by a Surat court in 1996, he moved HC to prove his act was for public good. However, Justice KS Jhaveri observed in HC that though he might have used the funds for public purpose, he had not followed the law. So, his action amounted to misappropriation of funds and breach of trust since Chaudhary was holding a public post at that time. Chaudhary appealed to the court to lessen his jail term to four months and 12 days from one year, as he had already spent that time in prison. But, the court took the view that the lower court had already shown leniency, because the maximum punishment for breach of trust by a public servant, banker or agent is 10 years jail under Sectiorj 409 of IPC.