In a significant judgment, the high court has ordered that the post of chairperson/president which has been reserved consecutively in successive elections should be reorganized and included in the general category this time.
The court said constitutional rotation should be ensured while reserving post of chairperson/president. Reserving the post of chairperson/president alternately for women and SC/ST categories for three successive times and reserving the post for the same category for the second time should be avoided and rescheduled accordingly.
The court made it clear that the Constitution does not intend to reserve the post of chairperson/president permanently in any place. Denying the opportunity to candidates belonging to the general category consecutively, to become president/chairperson will amount to reverse discrimination. Equal opportunity will be denied if the rotation system is not followed. Any reservation for the post of chairperson/president without complying with the rotation mechanism prescribed under the constitution is illegal, the court said.
Justice A Mohammad Mushtaq delivered the judgment on the petitions filed by 20 persons including Abubaker Kanniyan raising questions about the reservation of Manjeri municipality chairperson’s post. The court pointed out that the reservation seats should be permitted in compliance with the rotation mechanism as per 234 (d) (4) of the constitution.
Issue concerns 10 panchayats, 4 municipalities
The issue of consecutive reservations which came up before the court pertained to following local bodies;
Panchayats - Karakulam, Nandiyod (Thiruvananthapuram district) Thrikavil Vattom (Kollam), Wandoor, Pandikkad, Kuttipuram (Malappuram) and Kunnamangalam (Kozhikode).
Municipalities; Manjeri, Kondotty, Mananthavadi and Trippunithura.
However, the court verdict is a general order.
Reservation for president/chairperson between 33-50 per cent: HC
The High Court has directed that action be taken to ensure that the reservation for the post of chairperson/president does not go below 33 per cent as prescribed by Constitution and above 50 per cent as laid down under the Panchayat and Municipality Acts.
The court said the attempt should be to implement reservation as not less than one third by ensuring rotation mechanism prescribed under the constitution.
According to the constitution, one-third of the posts of chairperson/president are reserved for women. It is 50 per cent as per the Panchayat and Municipality Act. After taking SC/ST reservations also into account, the total reservation crosses the 50 per cent mark. So while implementing these reservation norms, it is difficult to comply with rotation which results in controversies and legal issues, the court said.
The State Election Commission informed the court that when the reservation was implemented complying with Panchayat and Municipality Acts, the total quota this time came to about 67 per cent. However, the court said that for complying with the rotation norms, the commission had powers to reduce the percentage of the reservation after ensuring the minimum one-third quota prescribed by the constitution.
The 50 per cent reservation for women and SC / ST sections in Panchayat Municipality Acts cannot be denied but it should be fixed in a way to ensure maximum rotation.
At the same time, the court said that it should not go below the constitutional limit of 33 per cent. The notification regarding the reservation for the post of president/chairperson was issued on November 3.
The High Court rejected the commission's objection that there should be no intervention at this stage since the election notification had been issued. The court also ruled that the chairperson’s notification was not part of the election notification.
