Quota row: Madras HC warns of staying Pondy polls
The local body polls in Puducherry Union Territory would be stayed if convincing answers were not provided for the anomalies in reserving seats for SCs, BCs and women in the forthcoming civic polls, the Madras High Court warned the Puducherry State Election Commission.
migrator
Chennai
Ranting the Commission time till Friday to respond satisfactorily, the first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice P D Audikesavalu said, “There are several anomalies, including the very basis of reserving seats for backward classes. No answers are forthcoming to the several anomalies which have been noticed.”
The court then adjourned the pleas to 12.30 pm on Friday for the Commission to respond.
According to the petitioners, as per the Puducherry Municipalities Act and Rules, reservation of seats for SCs should be made primarily by taking note of the population of the community. But the same has not been adhered to and the wards reserved were not in consonance with the population ratio as per the 2011 Census, the petitioners said.
As per the Census report, ward no 23 (Nethaji Nagar) has 29.04 per cent SC population, which is the highest, followed by ward no 17 (Nelithope) that has 28.41 per cent, ward no 6 (Thiruvalluvar Nagar) 27.71 per cent, and then ward no 13 (Pudupalayam) 25.26 per cent.
But the notification issued by the Puducherry State Election Commission on August 23 has notified Ward numbers 24 (Viduthalai Nagar) and 33 (Kombakkam) and ward number 22 (Colas Nagar) as reserved for SCs, they pointed out.
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