Team Herald
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved its judgment on the elections it allowed last Thursday in five municipalities of Margao, Mapusa, Mormugao, Sanguem and Quepem on a petition of the Goa government against the cancellation ordered by the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court on March 1.
The verdict, however, may not come any time before the next week, since the Bench comprising Justices Rohinton Fali Nariman and Hrishikesh Roy allowed ‘written submissions, if any, be filed by Friday’ after the arguments were concluded.
Immediately after the stay had been ordered, the State Election Commission had restarted the election process in the five municipal councils and polling has been scheduled on March 21.
Those who argued before the Bench on Tuesday included Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Goa
Advocate General Devidas Pangam. Those who argued on behalf of Fouzia Sheikh, a former chairperson of Sanguem Municipal Council, included senior advocate Atmaram Nadkarni, a former additional solicitor general and former Goa advocate general, as also senior advocate P S Narasimha, and senior advocate Vivek Tankha (a Congress MP).
The elections were challenged on the ground that the State Election Commission had failed to reserve seats for women as mandatory. Posted before the Apex Court were a dozen petitions, filed by the parties as also the State Election Commission.
