Hold GHMC polls by Dec 15: HC to T govt

HYDERABAD: Elections to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) should be held by December 15 this year, the high court directed the Telangana government on Monday. The state was told to complete all pre-poll arrangements by October 31, such as delimitation of wards, after which the State Election Commission would be given 45 days time to complete the entire election process.
The bench comprising Chief Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta and Justice Sanjay Kumar gave these directions while hearing a public interest petition filed by M Padmanabha Reddy of the Centre For Good Governance who challenged the delay in conducting the elections despite the expiry of the tenure of the elected council a few months ago.
The TRS regime has been citing the non-availability of IAS officers due to delayed cadre allocation, etc., as the reason for its inability to hold the elections.
When the matter came up for hearing on Monday, Telangana advocate general K Ramakrishna Reddy sought eight months time to complete the delimitation of wards and for fixing BC reservations in accordance with the 2011 census in all the 200 wards. The strength of the wards too has gone up from 150 to 200 now in view of the delimitation exercise, he said.
Following this, the bench took into consideration the practical difficulties being faced by a new state and granted it six more months, till October 31, to complete the delimitation and BC census. When the AG sought more time, the bench declined it. “The process of carving out a separate state of Telangana itself was done at a jet speed with the copies of the AP Reorganization Act rushed to the AP assembly by a special flight. This is just the election of a civic body. You can do it. Don’t ask for more time”, the bench told the AG.
At this, the AG tried to justify his stand saying that holding election to the Hyderabad civic body is like holding a mini state election. “The extent of this city is much bigger than Singapore,” he said.
However, when the bench told him that it would entrust the matter to the Election Commission to take the issue forward, the AG agreed to abide by the schedule fixed by the bench.
When Sivaraj Srinivas, counsel for the petitioner, told the bench that they have challenged the constitutional validity of section 70 (G) of the GHMC Act that gave powers to the state to continue the administration of the civic body with a special officer, the bench directed the Telangana government to file a counter on this matter.
Srinivas told the bench that 70 (G) was inserted in the GHMC Act in 1991 enabling the state to delay the election. But in 1993, the Constitution was amended and Article 243 (U) was brought in making it mandatory for all the states to hold elections to municipal bodies before the expiry of the term of the elected bodies to ensure the installation of a new elected body without any delay, the counsel said. After this constitutional amendment, section 70 (G) becomes invalid and hence needs to be struck down, Srinivas said. The bench too had made several observations against 70 (G) earlier. The matter will come up again for hearing in June.
The bench gave these directions while hearing a PIL filed by M Padmanabha Reddy of the Centre For Good Governance who challenged the delay in conducting the polls despite expiry of the tenure of the elected council a few months ago