The Hindu : New Delhi News : Court for new ward reservation formula

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Sunday, Mar 04, 2007
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Court for new ward reservation formula

Staff Reporter

High Court finds several loopholes in State Election Commission's affidavit

NEW DELHI: Directing the State Election Commission to submit a new formula for reserving the wards of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) for the Scheduled Castes, women belonging to the Scheduled Castes, and women in the general category, the Delhi High Court on Saturday reserved judgment on a petition challenging the Commission's February 17 notification on reservations.

Justice B.D. Ahmed directed the Commission to submit the new formula to the Court on Monday at 2 p.m.

The petitioner, Minto Road Councillor Ramesh Dutta, has challenged the notification alleging that the Commission had not adopted any formula for reserving the wards for the three categories and had resorted to a pick-and-choose policy under the pressure of different power lobbies.

On a direction by Mr. Justice Ahmed on February 28, the Commission had filed an affidavit informing the Court of the basis on which it had reserved the wards for the three categories as well as the manner in which it would rotate them in future.

On perusal of the affidavit, the Court found several loopholes in it and ordered the Commission to prepare a new one.

Counsel for the Commission urged the Court to dismiss the petition submitting that the notification was a legislative decision and it could not be challenged in court.

Counsel for the petitioner, V.P. Chaudhry, assisted by Digvijay Rai, urged the Court to quash the notification and direct the Commission to issue a new one.

The Commission's decision had in an arbitrary and mala fide manner denied Mr. Dutta an opportunity to contest from the Minto Road or Darya Ganj wards by reserving both of them for women, they submitted.

The State Election Commission has split the erstwhile Minto Road ward into Minto Road and Darya Ganj and reserved both these wards for women.

As a consequence, the petitioner's right to contest the election from a ward of his choice has been taken away, the petition said.

Further, no rational principle was applied for reservation of the wards for the three categories and the manner in which they were reserved had defeated the purpose of rotating the reserved wards to other ones as provided in the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957, counsel for the petitioner submitted.

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