BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court said the state government is required to capture in software data pertaining to persons elected to municipal councils and then tabulate the reservation for the posts of president and vice-president, taking into consideration the presence of candidates belonging to that particular category.
Dismissing two petitions on reservation to president and vice-president posts in own municipal councils, Justice Suraj Govindaraj passed the order recently after noticing that in Bhatkal of Uttara Kannada district and Annigeri of Dharwad district, there were no councillors under the reserved category.
The court said that if data is captured and tabulation of reservation for the posts is done and if the reservation for a post is made and no candidate is found for that category then suitable changes could be made. Reservation is applicable at two stages -- one while being elected to the municipal council and then for the posts of president or vice-president.
In the cases under consideration, the reservation for the election to the council and for the posts of president and vice-president has been done at the same time without knowing who would be elected to what category and whether they are male or female. It would be required for the state to capture the data pertaining to the people who have been elected to the council, the court said.