E-Paper
UP panchayat polls: HC quashes order, asks state govt to take 2015 as base year for reserving seats
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Monday ordered the Uttar Pradesh government to take 2015 as the base year for the reservation of seats in the panchayat elections after the government apprised the court that it had no objection to doing the same
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Monday ordered the Uttar Pradesh government to take 2015 as the base year for the reservation of seats in the panchayat elections after the government apprised the court that it had no objection to doing the same.
The court quashed the state government’s February 11 order that was issued for the reservation of seats for panchayat polls, taking 1995 as the base year.
A division bench of Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justice Manish Mathur also ordered the state government to complete the reservation process by March 27.
Advocate general Raghvendra Singh informed the court about the government’s stance, stating that it had no objection to 2015 as the base year.
“Learned Advocate General appearing for the opposite parties no. 1 and 2 (state govt, principal secretary Panchayati Raj) on the basis of written instructions, copy of which has been placed before the court and the same is taken on record, submits that the state government has no objection to implement the reservation and allotment of seats of constituencies in Panchayat elections taking 2015 as the base year,” said the court.
“It is submitted by the learned Advocate General that the entire exercise for providing reservation in the panchayat elections has to be done afresh taking 2015 as the base year, as such, it would not be possible that the reservation of constituencies to be finalized by March 17, 2021,” said the court.
“It is stated that they will complete the entire exercise in this regard by March 27, 2021, and hold the elections by May 10, 2021. Indirect elections would be completed by May 25, 2021,” the court added.
“Considering the submission of learned Advocate General, the impugned order dated February 11, 2021 is hereby quashed. The writ petition is allowed,” said the court.
The court, on March 12, had stayed the publication of the final list of seats reserved for the panchayat polls till March 15.
The court had passed the order on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Ajay Kumar, challenging the state government’s decision to take 1995 as the base year, instead of 2015, for reserving the seats.
