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Himachal HC stays Shimla MC delimitation orders, polls deferred
Himachal HC has stayed impugned orders and directed the respondents -- secretary, urban development; Shimla divisional commissioner; deputy commissioner and HP state election commission -- to file a reply
The Himachal Pradesh high court on Tuesday stayed the order of delimitation of Nabha and Summerhill wards of Shimla municipal corporation, which were passed by the deputy commissioner and upheld by the divisional commissioner of Shimla.
The court has stayed impugned orders and directed the respondents -- secretary, urban development; Shimla divisional commissioner; deputy commissioner and HP state election commission -- to file a reply. The case has been adjourned for August 16. The process of the Shimla civic body elections has also been put on hold.
A division bench comprising Justice Sabina and Justice Satyen Vaidya passed these orders on two separate petitions filed by petitioners Simi Nanda and Rajeev Thakur.
The court found that the deputy commissioner had failed to consider the factual aspect of the submissions raised by the petitioners.
It had observed that the deputy commissioner was required to take into consideration the fact that equal population as far as practicable in each ward be maintained and each ward was also required to maintain geographical compactness and contiguous in areas and recognisable boundaries. He was more influenced by the fact that no ECI polling stations should transgress the boundaries, which however does not find mentioned in the Rules, the court said.
The court in the order dated June 3, 2022, passed on the previous petitions, had set aside the impugned orders passed by the Shimla deputy commissioner and appellate authority divisional commissioner delimitation of ward no.11-Nabha (new ward no 12-Nabha) and ward no. 5-Summerhill (new ward no. 6-Summerhill).
The matter was remanded back to the Shimla DC with directions to decide the objections raised by the petitioners afresh, in accordance to the law, after appreciating the material available on record.
The Shimla DC on June 24 again rejected the objections filed by the petitioners, holding that the delimitation orders are as per the provisions laid down in the HP Municipal Corporation Act, 1994, and Municipal Corporation Election Rules, 2012, and there is no need to make any change in the order.
The appeal filed by the petitioners against the impugned order was also rejected by the divisional commissioner.
The petitioners had again approached the high court with a prayer to quash and set aside the impugned orders of June 24 passed by the Shimla DC and order dated July 8, 2022, passed by the divisional commissioner, Shimla, on appeal.
The court has now stayed the impugned orders and directed the respondents to file a reply and the case has been adjourned for August 16.
