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Goa opposition rejoices as govt asked to redo municipal reservations
The apex court on Friday dismissed the Goa government’s petitions challenging the orders of the Bombay High Court at Goa.
Opposition parties in Goa have welcomed the Supreme Court verdict which dismissed the Goa government's appeal on the municipal poll process, claiming a moral victory against the ruling BJP government ahead of the municipal polls.
The apex court, in a judgement delivered on Friday, dismissed the Goa government’s petitions challenging the orders of the Bombay High Court at Goa which had quashed and set aside the reservations for municipal polls as notified by the state government.
The top court also ordered the Goa State Election Commissioner to step down from his post ruling that the posts of the State Election Commissioner should be ‘independent’. In Goa’s case, law secretary Choka Ram Garg was given an additional charge as the State Election Commissioner.
The opposition has claimed a moral victory calling the Supreme Court judgement “a complete slap and indictment of the government led by Pramod Sawant in Goa.”
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Speaking to media persons, Advocate Carlos Alvares Ferreira, who represents some of the original petitioners before the High Court, said, “the SC has straightforwardly dismissed the appeals filed by the state government. The SC has found that there was clear machination done by the SC in trying to manipulate the entire constitutional machinery and override constitutional provisions,” Ferreira, who is also a Congress leader, said.
The case originated when the Director of Municipal Administration (DMA), who is in charge of notifying which seats in Municipal Councils are to be reserved for candidates from vulnerable categories like women, STs, SCs and OBCs, issued a notification.
In the notification, the DMA ‘rounded off' the number of seats to be reserved for women to the lower integer that emerged when the total number of seats was sought to be divided into three. For example, in the Mapusa Municipal Council, of the 20 seats only six were reserved for women (30 per cent) when the constitution mandated that “no less than” 33 per cent be reserved for women which meant that at least seven seats should have been reserved. A similar case was witnessed in several other of the 11 municipal councils going to the polls.
The matter was promptly challenged before the Bombay High Court at Goa and even while the hearings were underway, the State Election Commission notified the poll process and proceeded to take a stance before the High Court that now that the poll process was underway, the Courts should follow precedent laid down and not interfere in the ongoing process since legal remedies can always be sought after the polls were concluded.
The unimpressed High Court, however, quashed the notification concerning five municipal councils and asked the Goa government to issue fresh notifications this time ensuring that the seats were adequately reserved for various categories asking that the poll process be pushed forward by ten days.
The Goa government promptly approached the Supreme Court appealing against the HC orders and secured an interim stay, which prompted the Goa CM to prematurely declare victory claiming ‘democracy has been restored.’
“Hon. Supreme Court has stayed the High Court’s order cancelling elections to five municipalities and consequent order of the State Election Commission keeping the election process in abeyance. Matter to come up for final hearing on Tuesday. Now, the democratic process has been restored!” Sawant had tweeted.
With the Supreme Court now dismissing the government’s petitions, it’s not the opposition turn to rejoice.
“The Highest Court of the land has crushed @DrPramodPSawant’s blatant attempt to violate our constitution and derail democracy; He’s brought disgrace not only to Goa but also to his own leader @narendramodi who had bowed before the Constitution before taking office in 2019,” leader of Goa Forward Party, Vijai Sardesai, said in a tweet.
“The pat on the back @DrPramodPSawant expected has come as a slap on the face. @goacm is now a certified cheat. He defied [the] Indian Constitution and strangled democracy; and got caught. It’s no more about resigning as @goacm, he has no moral right to remain in public life,” Sardesai said in another tweet.
“The CM is illegal, he is not worthy of the chair. Uttarakhand has changed a CM, maybe they will change him too. After the SC order, the CM should not be sitting in the chair for a single minute. Strictures have been passed against the Goa government. The minister (for urban development) should also be sacked. The officer who supported this harakiri should be acted against,” state Congress president Girish Chodankar said.
The judgement leaves the State Election Commission to now re-do the election process, barring those who were elected ‘unopposed’ in several wards.
