PANJIM: A day after the High Court of Bombay at Goa refused to allow extended postponement of elections to 186 village panchayats, the State government on Wednesday moved the High Court urging to allow an additional 30 days to complete the process for holding the elections.
The High Court’s Division Bench of Justice M S Sonak and Justice R N Laddha on Tuesday had directed the State government to issue a notification declaring the date of the election within three days of the order and completing the process within 45 days.
Advocate General Devidas Pangam submitted that since the State is approaching the month-long Monsoon Session of the Goa Legislative Assembly from July 11 to August 12, which will be followed by Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations. Therefore, he requested the Bench to grant an additional 30 days till September 12, to complete the election process.
The State Election Commission also appeared in the matter and submitted that it is ready to hold elections as per High Court’s directives. The Commission stood its ground that it recommended several dates for the government to hold the polls prior to the term’s end on June 18.
The Bench reserved its verdict with an order most likely to be pronounced, on Thursday.
The Judiciary came down heavily on the State government as well as SEC over their decision to postpone the polls defying the Constitutional mandate under Article 243-E, which the High Court found to be unsustainable, in its order on Tuesday. While it maintained that the government had no powers to decide on the election process apart from issuing notification, the High Court pointed out that considering the Constitutional position, independent application of mind by the SEC was imperative.
It also said that “monsoons” cannot be an excuse for defying the Constitutional mandate and quashed the State government’s decision to postpone the elections.
