PANJIM: The High Court of Bombay at Goa on Monday dismissed a petition challenging the appointment of Kabir Makhija and Kishore Sastry as nominated councilors at the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP).
While stating that its power of judicial review was limited, the Division Bench of Justice M S Sonak and Justice R N Laddha said it was not appropriate to interfere with Legislature.
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“While we appreciate his zeal and motives to achieve an ideal regime, we are bound to observe the limits of judicial review of administrative action referred to above. As discussed earlier, our inquiry is mainly limited to the legality of choice, not its soundness. Besides, we cannot step into the domain of the Legislature. Therefore, having regard to the limits and the material on record, we do not think that it would be appropriate to interfere with the impugned executive action,” reads the order to the petition dismissed by the court.
During the hearing, petitioner Advocate Aires Rodrigues had submitted that the provisions permitting nominations to elected bodies must not be subverted to provisions for the rehabilitation of defeated or unelectable candidates. Instead, he offered that the nominees must be chosen for their genuine expertise and potential to add luster and weight to municipal administration. Rodrigues offered that provisions for nomination were made because the Legislature was conscious that very often, elected representatives might not possess ‘special’ knowledge or experience in municipal administration while proposing a transparent process to strengthen the democratic process.
Rodrigues, who is expected to challenge the order in the Supreme Court, had claimed that the appointments were in total breach and violation of law as the two nominated councilors did not possess the required special knowledge and experience in the municipal administration.
