LUCKNOW: In a major jolt to the UP government, the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court, on Tuesday, allowed the Urban Local Body polls in the state without OBC reservation in wards, Mayoral and Municipality chairpersons seats treating them as general except those reserved for SC and ST.
The court passed the order as it held that the state government did not fulfil the required "Triple Test" norm laid down by the Apex Court to fix the quota for OBCs in the civic bodies.
The division bench, comprising Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Saurabh Lavania, quashed the draft proposal of OBC reservation in Urban Local Bodies released by the state government on December 5, 2022, and asked the State Election Commission (SEC) to notify the civic polls in the state immediately as per provisions of Article 243-U of the Constitution of India so that new local bodies are constituted with the end of the term of the current civic bodies.
“…since the term of Municipalities has either ended or shall be coming to an end by 31 January 2023, and the process of completion of triple test/conditions being arduous, is likely to take considerable time, it is directed that the State Government/State Election Commission shall notify the elections immediately,” said the bench.
The High Court bench also quashed the State Government Order dated December 12, 2022, which provided for the operation of bank accounts of Municipalities under joint signatures of Executive Officers and the Senior Most Officer in Uttar Pradesh Palika Centralized Service (Accounts Cadre).
In the 87-page order, the bench said until the “triple test/conditions” mandated by the Supreme Court were completed in all respects by the state government, no reservation for the Backward Class of citizens shall be provided.
“While notifying the elections the seats and offices of Chairpersons, except those to be reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, shall be notified as for general/open category,” it added.
Significantly, the court also asked the state to consider the claim of transgenders for their inclusion among the Backward Class of citizens once a dedicated Commission was constituted for undertaking the exercise of conducting the empirical study as to the nature and implications of Backwardness for the purposes of providing reservation to the Backward Class of citizens in the context of elections to the urban local bodies.
The High Court passed the order after completing the hearing over a bunch of 93 Public Interest Litigations (PILs) alleging that the exercise of reservation of seats in the municipalities is being carried out by the state government in “complete derogation and defiance” of the “Triple Test” mandate of the Supreme Court in the case of Suresh Mahajan vs State of Madhya Pradesh.
“We understand that collection and collation of materials by the dedicated Commission is a humongous and time taking task, however, formation of elected Municipal Bodies by-election cannot be delayed for the reason of constitutional mandate contained in Article 243-U of the Constitution of India. Thus to fortify the democratic character of governance of society, it is essential that the elections are held at the earliest which cannot wait,” the Bench said.
The order also said that in case the term of the municipal body ended till an elected body was formed, the affairs should be conducted by a three-member committee headed by the district magistrate. The executive officer or chief executive officer or municipal commissioner should be a member of the committee and the third member should be a district-level officer nominated by the district magistrate.
The court made it clear that those committees “shall discharge only day-to-day functions of the Municipal Body concerned and shall not take any major policy decision”.