Tuesday, 27 AUGUST 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
With the Vidhan Sabha speaker Ritu Bhushan Khanduri sending the contentious Uttarakhand (Uttar Pradesh Municipal Corporation 1959) Amendment Bill 2024 to the select committee of the Assembly, continuing the logjam and confusion over the dates of the elections of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in the State, the stand of the Uttarakhand High Court assumes significance on the issue.
A divisional bench the HC will hear the petitions on the ULB elections on September 5 and it is likely that the court will clear the confusion on dates of ULB elections. In a hearing before the bench of the chief justice Ritu Bahari and justice Rakesh Thapliyal on August 20, the State advocate general SN Babulkar had submitted that the elections of ULBs in the State will be conducted before October 25, following which the State government had started preparations for these elections. The process of delimitation and reservation status in the local bodies was started. The government also tabled the municipalities and municipal corporation amendment acts in the recent monsoon session of the Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha. The government had incorporated amendments in the municipal bodies act on the recommendations of the one member dedicated commission for determining Other Backward Classes (OBCs) reservation in these bodies. After passage of these bills the government intended to hold ULB elections in the State. Howevet, the government’s intention hit a roadblock as Vikasnagar MLA Munna Singh Chauhan and other MLAs raised objections to the recommendations of the one member commission on OBC reservations.
Chauhan said that the one member dedicated commission conducted a rapid survey of the OBCs in the State and on its report the reservation to the castes has been determined in the proposed bill. He said that the interests of the natives of the State should be protected and for it the commission should hear the objections of the public representatives. He demanded that the bill should be sent to the select committee.
The Dharampur MLA Vinod Chamoli and Dhanaulti MLA Pritam Singh also supported Chauhan following which the speaker sent the bill to the select committee.
The government is now left with no option but to further postpone the ULB elections. After due deliberations the select committee will submit its report to the Speaker and based on the report the government can make changes in the OBC reservations and the castes to be included in the list of OBC in the proposed bill. The government could either table this bill in the winter session of the assembly or could convene a one day special session of the Assembly for passage of the bill. It is pertinent to mention here that there are 102 ULBs in the State and the elections for 99 ULBs ( barring Kedarnath, Badrinath and Gangotri Nagar Panchayats) will be held. The term of the ULBs in the State had ended in December 2023 after which administrators were appointed in the ULBs.
