PANJIM: Besides close to a dozen petitions challenging reservations and delimitation of municipal wards, the High Court of Bombay at Goa is also hearing a plea objecting to the Goa Municipalities (Amendment) Act 2021.
The two major amendments have prompted the matter being dragged to the court with petitioners seeking relief. In the Goa Municipal (Amendment) Act 2021, the government has substituted the word “population” with “voters” to undertake reservation and delimitation of the municipal council wards. Earlier reservation and delimitation were based on the population in each.
The amendment also states that the notification with regards to reservation and delimitation shall be at least seven days prior to the notification of the general election, contrary to the one-month notice earlier.
The Director of Urban Development/Municipal Administration, on February 4, issued orders for reservation of seats in respect to the municipalities, providing for reservation of seats for women, schedule castes, scheduled tribes and other backward classes.
At the hearing of a separate petition last December, the Advocate General had submitted an undertaking that ‘notifications for delimitation and reservation will be issued by the appropriate authorities whom he represents, at least three weeks prior to the date of notification of the schedule for municipal elections’.
The fresh petitions challenging the reservations have argued that the government has adopted the policy of pick and choose in order to suit the interests of members belonging to the political party in power. One of the petitioners also alleged that the rotational policy has been engineered in such a manner so as to harm the members of political parties in the opposition or the prospective candidates who may be found to be unfavourable to their interest.
The high court, based on the petitions, has issued notices to the State government and State Election Commission for final disposal, likely in the next week.
