High Court Refuses To Stay Panchayat Polls
The court said that reservations for BCs were not a constitutional right, and that as per a Supreme Court directive reservations could not exceed 50%.
Hyderabad | 3rd January 2019
The Telangana High Court today refused to stall the process of the village panchayat elections in the state.
The court directed the state government to file a counter with all the details of the reservations in the elections, and posted the case for four weeks later.
Chief Justice Radhakrishnan of the High Court heard several petitions seeking quashing of the ordinance issued by the Telangana government reducing the BC reservations in the panchayat raj bodies. BC leaders R Krishnaiah, J Srinivas Goud and others sought cancellation of the ordinance and stalling of the elections. The BC leaders said that the reduction of the quota for the BCs was unconstitutional and that the elections needed to be stayed.
After hearing the arguments, the court refused to quash the elections as the schedule had already been released. The Chief Justice also clarified that reservations for the BCs were not a constitutional right, and that as per a Supreme Court directive reservations could not exceed 50%.
filed in: Courts, Elections, Local Body Elections, Gram Panchayat, Villages, High Court, Telangana High Court, Legal, Reservations, Backward Classes