Acceding to the request of the Union Government, the Supreme Court on Monday granted an additional two weeks’ time to it for responding to a petition seeking implementation of the Delimitation Commission's recommendations on reconstituting Parliamentary and Assembly constituencies across the country.A Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan accepted the plea of Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium for extending the four weeks time granted to it in January, as he apprised the court that the issue was being looked into by an appropriate authority.Earlier, Delhi Study Group, an NGO, had filed a PIL seeking immediate implementation of the Delimitation Commission's report so that the forthcoming elections in various states are held in accordance with the re-defined boundaries of the constituencies. Advocate Pinki Anand, appearing for the NGO, however, objected to ASG's plea, alleging that it was a time-buying tactic. She requested the court to fix a final date for the matter as elections are due next year and so much delay has already been caused in the implementation of recommendations.It was earlier pointed out in the court how the notification on re-defining the boundaries of constituencies was yet to be placed before the President for her assent before it could be implemented. The Commission, after having spent a whopping Rs 20 crore for conducting the exercise, had completed its exercise in 25 states barring Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland. Besides the general elections in 2009, 11 states including Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Rajasthan are scheduled to go to polls between December 2007 and November 2008. But the Government had chosen to be indecisive over the implementation of its recommendations, the petitioner had told the court earlier.A similar petition filed by a BJP leader from Rajasthan, Kartar Singh Bhadana, was tagged with the petition of the NGO. Meanwhile, under mounting pressure, the Cabinet has reportedly given its approval to initiate steps for implementation of Commission's recommendations.
