E-Paper
Himachal high court sets aside Shimla DC’s order on ward delimitation
The Himachal high court also quashed the order of the Shimla deputy commissioner whereby he had dismissed the objections to the delimitation and order of divisional commissioner rejecting the appeal of the petitioners
The Himachal Pradesh high court on Friday set aside the order of delimitation of Summer Hill and Nabha wards of Shimla municipal corporation.
The court also quashed the order of the Shimla deputy commissioner whereby he had dismissed the objections to the delimitation and order of divisional commissioner rejecting the appeal of the petitioners.
A division comprising acting chief justice Sabina and justice Satyen Vaidya directed the Shimla DC to dispose of the objections filed by the petitioners afresh in accordance with law and appreciating the material available on record.
Petitioners Simi Nanda, councillor from Nabha ward and Rajeev Thakur, a resident of Summer Hill, had filed objections in response to the notice of delimitation contending that the process adopted was in violation of principles of equal distribution of area population-wise. Besides, it also violated the Shimla MC Act, 1994, and HP Municipal Corporation Election Rules, 2012.
The Shimla DC dismissed their objection vide order dated February 24 while their appeal was also rejected by the Shimla divisional commissioner after which the petitioner had moved HC.
The court observed that the DC failed to consider the factual aspect of the submissions raised by the petitioners and why the population of different wards in question was not being brought on par.
“The DC 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,” the court said.
However, a perusal of the impugned order dated February 24 passed by the Shimla DC shows that he was more influenced by the fact that no ECI polling station should transgress the boundaries, the aspect which he was not required to go into, it added.
The court also observed that while passing the impugned order, the DC merely narrated the facts and the provisions of the Act, but failed to give its findings on the factual aspect of the objections raised by the petitioners.
The appellate authority also, in a mechanical manner, has dismissed the appeals filed by the petitioners without going into the factual aspect of the matter, the court observed, adding that it finds both the order by the DC and the appellate authority liable to be set aside.
