Relief to Punjab Government from SC Regarding Municipal Elections: 8 Weeks Given, Challenge to High Court's Order
New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): The Punjab government has received relief from the Supreme Court on the matter of municipal elections. The apex court has given the Punjab government 8 weeks to conduct the elections. It is believed that a notification regarding the same will be issued by the government in January. The state government had approached the Apex Court challenging the order given by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in the matter. In that order, the High Court issued a contempt notice to the Punjab government and ordered that election notification be released within ten days.
5 Municipal Corporations and 42 Councils Completed their Tenure
Among others, the 5-year term of the state's municipal corporations, Fattuwal, Amritsar, Patiala, Jalandhar and Ludhiana besides 42 municipal councils stands lapsed. It's quite some time since the term lapsed, but the government has so far not held the elections.
The issue reached the Punjab and Haryana High Court on the issue of a demand for elections. After the hearing on 14th October the court directed the election notification to be issued within 15 days without delimitation of the wards. However this was not done within the stipulated date due to part government holidays. This led to a contempt petition. The High Court served a notice of contempt upon the Punjab Government and directed that election notification was to be issued within 10 days. As for the complaint, the high court of the said state issued a further order declaring that if such action was not taken within the stipulated time, it would also hold a fine of Rs. 50,000 along with a case filed under contempt .
16 Weeks Needed for Ward Delimitation
The government's lawyer had argued before the last hearing that the delimitation process for wards would be required to be completed in all over 16 weeks. However, the lawyer apprised the court that the earlier judgment delivered regarding ward delimitation stands canceled on October 17, 2023. Thus, the fresh delimitation process was essential. Nevertheless, the court had passed an order to conduct elections without holding ward delimitation. The petition explained how people were being inconvenienced because of the delay in municipal elections.
