Democracy has won, women have gained and the law has been upheld. The individuals who took it upon themselves to challenge the reservation process of the five municipal councils are to be commended. The government that decided to challenge the High Court order in the Supreme Court stands pushed to a corner. This was an unwarranted choice and brings into question the reasoning in the State government decision to file a special leave petition in the Supreme Court challenging the High Court order that was very detailed and left no loopholes for a challenge. Recall that the SEC had admitted in the High Court that the reservations for women did not meet the Constitution mandate.
What and from whom was legal advice sought and obtained by the government before it approached the Supreme Court? This judgement from the Supreme Court is now nothing other than a major embarrassment to the government and the State Election Commission.
Going to the Supreme Court with a Special Leave Petition seeking a quashing of the order of the High Court of Bombay at Goa was a decision that has gone horribly wrong for the government of Goa. Not only has the Supreme Court upheld the decision of the High Court, it has passed some strictures against the government on the appointment of the State Election Commissioner that the government could well have avoided had it not sought to challenge the High Court order. When halting the election process in five municipalities, the High Court had not passed any stricture on a serving officer with the government being appointed as Election Commissioner. The Supreme Court came down heavily on this.
It has termed the appointment of a serving officer as an election commissioner as a ‘disturbing feature’, and in the judgment to be effective ‘across the length and breadth of the country’, has directed that no such appointment be made henceforth, for it found that a government official taking charge of the elections is a ‘mockery of democracy’. In light of this part of the judgement, where IAS officers should not be SECs and the direction to the Goa government that an independent election commissioner be appointed to conduct the polls, the election process currently underway falls under a shadow of suspicion. The government has to quickly appoint an independent person to head the commission so that all shadow of doubt is erased.
There are too many questions to be asked, with very few answers to come. To begin with, why were the State Election Commission and the government in such a hurry to restart the election process without waiting for the final order of the Supreme Court? That the Supreme Court stayed the order of the High Court was no indication that they would quash the order and allow the election process to continue. Hence, it would have been prudent on the part of the State Election Commission to await the final order before restarting the process. The High Court had given the Commission up to April 15 to complete the process.
Somebody in the government needs to own up for the error in the reservations that has caused such consternation in the State and led to an election process being stopped. The Minister for Urban Development has to explain why in the nine wards of Mormugao Municipal Council that fall in his constituency, not a single one was reserved for women. This definitely indicates that the reservation process was decided on the whims of certain politicians or political parties. There has to be responsibility placed and unless this is done, no lesson will be learnt from this fiasco. Democracy and the Constitution must be upheld at all times.
