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Journalism of Courage
The term of the village panchayats in Haryana had ended in February, 2021.
Although all major political parties across Haryana had been preparing for these polls for over more than 14 months, they were delayed due to multiple petitions filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court challenging some amendments made by the state government through the Haryana Panchayat Raj (Second Amendment) Act, 2020. The amendments in question are about reservation for backward castes and women in the panchayats.
As it permitted Haryana to hold elections to the Panchayati Raj institutions Wednesday, the Punjab and Haryana High Court made it clear that the polls will be held subject to the outcome of bunch of writ petitions before it.
One petition by the Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar Dalit Samaj Vikas Samiti calls the amendments “arbitrary, unreasonable, and illegal”. The petition says that as per the Haryana Panchyati Raj Act, 1994, if the population in the village is half of the scheduled castes, then 50 per cent seats in the panchayat area are required to be filled by the SCs and are specifically reserved for them.
The petitioner approached the court challenging the 2020 amendment for taking away the representation given to the SCs under the 1994 Act.
Another petition by two women has sought quashing of Sections 9, 59 and 120 of the Haryana Panchayati Raj (Second Amendment) Act, 2020, which provides for 50 per cent reservation for women in elections to the Panchayati Raj institutions.
On Wednesday, the matter came up for hearing before the division bench of Chief Justice Ravi Shanker Jha and Justice Arun Palli. A detailed order in the matter was yet to be released on the HC website.
(WITH ENS CHANDIGARH)
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