Paving the way for the Urban Local Body elections in Uttar Pradesh, the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court Tuesday ordered that the polls should be held at the earliest and no reservation should be given to Other Backward Classes (OBC). In an order, a Bench of Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Saurabh Lavania said until the “triple test/conditions” mandated by the Supreme Court is completed in all respects by the state government, no reservation for the Backward Class of citizens shall be provided. “…since the term of Municipalities has either ended or shall be coming to an end by 31.01.2023 and the process of completion of triple test/conditions being arduous, is likely to take considerable time, it is directed that the State Government/State Election Commission shall notify the elections immediately,” said the bench. “While notifying the elections the seats and offices of Chairpersons, except those to be reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, shall be notified as for general/open category,” it added. The high court passed the order after hearing a batch of Public Interest Litigations (PILs) alleging that the exercise of reservation of seats in the municipalities is being carried out by the state government in “complete derogation and defiance” of the mandate of the Supreme Court in the case of Suresh Mahajan vs State of Madhya Pradesh. The petitioners submitted that the Supreme Court clearly mandated the states and Union Territories and their respective election commissions that until the triple test formality is completed in all respects by the state government, no reservation for OBCs can be provided. The court directed officials to “immediately notify the elections being guided by the provisions of Article 243-U of the Constitution of India which mandates that election to constitute a Municipality shall be completed before the expiry of its duration”. “We understand that collection and collation of materials by the dedicated Commission is a humongous and time taking task, however, formation of elected Municipal Bodies by election cannot be delayed for the reason of constitutional mandate contained in Article 243-U of the Constitution of India. Thus to fortify the democratic character of governance of society, it is essential that the elections are held at the earliest which cannot wait,” the Bench said. The court said, “the notification to be issued for elections shall include the reservation for women in terms of the constitutional provisions”. It also said that in case, the term of the municipal body comes to an end till an elected body is formed, their affairs shall be conducted by a three-member committee. The committee will be headed by the district magistrate, and the executive officer or chief executive officer or municipal commissioner shall be a member, while the third member shall be a district-level officer nominated by the district magistrate, said the court. It also said these committees “shall discharge only day-to-day functions of the Municipal Body concerned and shall not take any major policy decision”. “We also direct that once the dedicated Commission is constituted for undertaking the exercise of conducting an empirical study as to the nature and implications of Backwardness for the purposes of providing reservation to Backward Class of citizens in the context of elections to the urban local bodies, the claim of transgenders for their inclusion amongst Backward Class of citizens shall also be considered,” the court added.
