Edu norms will disqualify 67% of population, SC told

R Sedhuraman

Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, October 7

The Haryana Government’s new law on minimum educational qualification for contesting elections to Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) would prevent 67 per cent of the population from entering the poll fray, petitioners contended in the Supreme Court today.

Arguing for the petitioners, senior advocate Kirti Singh said the new norms would hit the Scheduled Caste women harder by disqualifying almost 83 per cent of them from contesting elections, thereby striking at the very roots of democracy meant for village-level governance.

She disputed the state government’s contention that the qualifications were necessary for ensuring efficient functioning of panchayats which were tasked with identifying and implementing development plans for rural areas. The state had pleaded that uneducated panchayat members could not make use of development funds in a proper manner by preventing pilferage and embezzlement.

Singh pleaded the elected village bodies only identified development projects and these were executed with the assistance of technical and administrative personnel of the state and as such lack of education was no handicap.

Election Commission data showed 65 per cent of the successful candidates in the last panchayat elections in the state did not have the educational qualification sought to be imposed under the Haryana Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Act, 2015, passed by the Assembly on September 7. “Let voters decide their representatives,” she said.

Singh also contended such norms should have been introduced first for candidates contesting Parliament and Assembly elections, instead of targeting local bodies, as better governance at the state and national level had greater significance for the people.

The Bench, however, clarified it would decide the validity of the new norms strictly on the basis of constitutional provisions, not going by parity between members of local bodies and MLAs and MPs as the court should not question the wisdom of the Assembly in going for the change without waiting for a similar legislation by Parliament.

The PIL has been filed by three aspiring candidates rendered ineligible by the fresh conditions under which general category contestants should have passed Class X, while women and SC men should have cleared the middle-level school examination. The educational requirement for women candidates from the SC category is Class V.

The amended Act also debars people who have loan arrears to cooperative banks or failed to pay electricity bills and those without functional toilets at homes.

The senior advocate questioned the logic behind the loan repayment and electricity bill conditions as Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had acknowledged farmers’ plight in view of unseasonal hailstorm that damaged their crops this year. The CM had announced loan and power tariff waiver for them.

Also, the number of farmers committing suicide in Haryana was four to five times higher than in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, she submitted.

The petitioners are Rajbala from Swami Nagar (Fatehabad), Kamlesh from Kaimri village in Hisar district and Preet Singh from Bhambhewa Beri village in Jhajjhar district. The arguments would continue tomorrow.