Front Page   

High Court orders status quo ante

Staff Reporter

GO annulling election of Palakkad municipal deputy chairperson

KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Thursday ordered status quo ante till Monday with respect to a Government Order declaring invalid the election of S. R. Balasubramanian, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) councillor, as deputy chairperson of the Palakkad municipality.

Passing the interim order, Justice K.M. Joseph directed that no meeting of the municipal council be convened. The interim order comes on a writ petition filed by S.R. Balasubramanian and two other BJP councillors challenging the Government Order. The petition will come up for further hearing on Monday.

Additional Advocate-General V.K. Beeran submitted that the election was not valid because, according to the provisions of the Kerala Municipalities Act, he should have been sworn in before the chairperson. Instead, he had been sworn in before the Returning Officer. The deputy chairperson could not exercise his powers when the post of chairperson was lying vacant. The administration of the council had broken down, he added.

Counsel for the State Election Commission submitted that the panel had suggested that the State Government hold a meeting of the leaders of all political parties to discuss the election of chairperson.

The petitioners contended that the issue of the order amounted to interference with the proceedings of the court, which had already been seized of a writ petition challenging the validity of the election of the deputy chairperson.

They submitted that the action of the Government stemmed from a desire to supersede the council. The Government could dissolve the council only on grounds mentioned in Section 64 of the Act: a council could be dissolved only if it cannot pass a budget or it faces a financial crisis. Besides, the provisions of the Act contemplated that the administration of the municipality could be carried out even in the absence of a chairperson. Section 11(3) had provided that if the office of the chairperson was vacant, the deputy chairperson shall exercise the powers and discharge the duties of the chairperson. Therefore, the failure of the council to elect a chairperson could not be a ground for dissolving the council.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Azad to be J&K Chief Minister
Rain cripples life in Chennai
Track flooding forces cancellation of all trains leaving Central
More storms in the offing, says expert
That was Best, could've been better
Finance Minister's warning to tax evaders
India offers Rs. 112 cr. to Pakistan
Help yet to reach rain-hit areas in Mysore
Rain continues, relief operations hampered
Don't repeat mistake on Iran, Left tells Government
Broadband tariff to be cut
Hectic efforts on to assign forestland to bigwigs
One long day, and long night, on JNU campus
Cyclone threat to AP coast
High Court orders status quo ante
Bail plea dismissed
Naidu abstains from vital meeting
CBI to probe riot cases against three Congress leaders
DRI impounds two BMW cars
Rain batters Chennai
Schools closed

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu