SC reservation in Panchkula civic poll notification challenged in High Court
Petitioners contended that as all the seats fixed for various categories –– the general, the backward class and the schedule caste, should have been part of the impugned notification
Less than a week after a notification was issued reserving seats for Scheduled Castes in Panchlula Municipal Corporation, a writ petition was on Wednesday filed before the Punjab and Haryana High Court challenging the same.
In the petition placed before the vacation Bench of Justice Vikas Bahl and Justice Rohit Kapoor, Usha Rani and other petitioners –– among other things –– sought the quashing of April 10 notification on the ground that it notified only Scheduled Caste reserved seats, without simultaneously notifying all the seats reserved for all the categories in the Municipal Corporation, Panchkula, in accordance with the 2011 Census data.
The petitioners contended that as all the seats fixed for various categories –– the general, the backward class and the schedule caste, should have been part of the impugned notification.
Taking up the matter, the Bench adjourned the hearing for Thursday.
At the outset, the Bench asserted notification had been issued. “Once it is issued, even if objections on delimitation aspect are not fully answered, it is not a ground for writ petition. It is actually fait accompli. It will be just dragging on a petition, in which ultimately you get nothing”.
Speaking for the Bench, Justice Bahl referred to a case in which arguments –– which the petitioner was wanting to raise on the delimitation part –– were raised.
“It says article 243ZG clearly lays down bar to the interference by courts of law in electoral matters and the validity of any law relating to the delimitation of constituencies or the allotment of seats to such constituencies, made or purporting to be made under Article 243Z. It shall not be called in question in any court, and even no election to any municipality shall be called in question except by election petition…
As the petitioner attempted to assail the manner in which the State proceeded with reservation of wards, the court reiterated the scope for judicial review became extremely limited once the notification for elections had been issued.
“Now, the notification is also issued… it will be a complete waste of exercise. It’s better that you raise all these pleas in an election petition,” the Bench remarked.
