Bangalore Mirror Bureau
The Karnataka High Court on Monday ordered that the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) elections be conducted by March 30.
A division bench of the HC comprising Justice V Gopala Gowda and Justice B S Patil held deliberations for over five hours and dismissed an interim application (IA) filed by the state government last week.
The court gave it two days to submit the renewed reservation list to the State Election Commission (SEC). The SEC, in turn, has been ordered to issue the final notification for the elections after this.
The government had sought time till May 15 to conduct the elections due to examinations during March and April. A special leave petition before the Supreme Court had resulted in the government failing to adhere to the HC’s February-11 order that the new reservation list be released by February 20.
The delayed elections have meant that the corporation has been without an elected body since November 2006.
Commmenting on the issue, Minister R Ashok said officials would be instructed to gear up for the elections and the government would abide by the court’s decision.
Govt hauled up
The court gave the government a sharp setdown on Monday, saying its reasons for postponing the elections were “clumsy and unacceptable”. On July 2, 2008, it had ordered that the BBMP elections be held within three months,
it noted.
“The court’s orders have not been complied with since. The principal secretary has not even cared to file an affidavit on such an important matter,” the court said.
The urban development secretary also came in for criticism and the court noted that only the deputy secretary had filed the affidavit.
The court was also displeased about the way in which the government’s different affidavits before the High Court and Supreme Court contradicted itself.
Source: http://www.bangaloremirror.com/article/10/2010030220100302014832566b4ec0096/HC-wants-BBMP-polls-this-month.html
No comments:
Post a Comment