‘Glaringly unconstitutional’: What HC said on Himachal’s panchayat quota notification

Shimla: Staying the state govt's March 30 notification after finding it "glaringly unconstitutional" to allow deputy commissioners to alter reservation roster up to 5% of total panchayats, the Himachal Pradesh high court has censured the state govt for its repeated "omissions and commissions of creating mess" and causing delay in panchayat polls at every step by venturing into "manifestly arbitrary actions". The Supreme Court had in Feb directed the state govt to complete the entire election process for panchayat polls by May 31.In a 48-page interim order, the division bench comprising Justice Vivek Singh Thakur and Justice Ranjan Sharma underlined, "power conferred upon the deputy commissioner on the basis of geographical and other peculiar conditions is vague, unbridled and unguided and has no nexus with the object to be sought by Article 243-D of the Constitution and Section 125 of the Panchayati Raj Act rather it is in breach of these provisions." The court, in its order released on Tuesday in a public interest litigation moved by Vikesh Zinta and others, cleared that the March 30 notification is beyond the competence of state govt and allowing the enforceability of this amendment would cause irreparable injury to public interest.The bench emphasised that Article 243-D and relevant provisions of the Panchayati Raj Act mandate reservation of seats for scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and women strictly on the basis of population ratios. It noted that neither the Constitution nor the law permitted reservation or alteration of rosters based on geographical or other vague considerations.The court also flagged procedural lapses, stating that the March 30 notification was issued without prior publication or consultation with the state election commission. The bench observed that notifications issued on March 13, 21 and 30 showed the initial amendment aimed to prevent reservation of panchayat office-bearer posts for the same category for three consecutive terms, with an exception to maintain prescribed reservation quotas. This amendment was finalised on March 21. However, the March 30 notification superseded it, granting deputy commissioners power to alter reservation rosters up to 5% citing geographical and special conditions.The bench stayed the notification's operation until further orders and issued notice to the state govt for filing its reply by June 22. It directed DCs that any reservation roster issued by taking into consideration the March 30 notification shall only be revised by April 7. The court also remarked that given the state officers' demonstrated efficiency in carrying out amendment in the rules "that too at the fag end of the time granted by the court for determining the reservation roster", they should be able to complete the process to reissue the roster within a day.