Telangana High Court Refuses to Stay GO 46 on Local Body reservation
With this, the path was cleared for the state government to proceed with the panchayat elections next month.
Hyderabad:The Telangana High Court on Friday refused to stay GO Ms. No. 46 dated November 22, which detailed the reservation framework for the local body elections. The court also declined to set aside Section 285-A of the Telangana Panchayat Raj Act, 2018 insofar as it related to the Backward Class (BC) community reservations.
With this, the path was cleared for the state government to proceed with the panchayat elections next month.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice G.M. Mohiuddin, observed that the electoral process mandated under the Constitution should not be halted and noted that the Supreme Court had consistently held that elections should not be stayed.
The bench was dealing with a writ petition filed by Madiwala Machadeva Rajakula Sangam represented by its general secretary S. Laxmiah along with six petitioners, challenging the constitutional validity of Section 285-A and GO 46 on the ground that the BC community was not categorised into A, B, C and D groups for the elections. The petitioners alleged that the empirical data and the Dedicated BC Commission Report, which formed the basis for the reservation structure, had not been disclosed.
Malugari Sudarshan, counsel for the petitioner, urged the court to direct the state to furnish the complete report, arguing that BC communities have a fundamental right to know the empirical basis on which reservation percentages were being continued. He informed the bench that in earlier proceedings before the Supreme Court concerning 42 per cent BC reservations, the state had only submitted the first and last pages of the commission’s report.
However, the Chief Justice Singh-led bench declined to issue such a direction at this stage, observing that it may consider calling for the report when counter-affidavits are filed.
The court adjourned the matter by eight weeks, granting six weeks to the state government and the state election authority to file their counter and two additional weeks to the petitioners to file their reply. Written submissions are to be filed at least a week before the next date of hearing.
