Raj Bhawan clears ordinance on OBC reservations, paves the way for ULB elections

PNS | DEHRADUN

 With the Raj Bhawan giving its clearance to the ordinance on reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC), the path for holding of Urban Local Body (ULB) elections in Uttarakhand is clear now. The ordinance on the OBC reservation was pending with the Raj Bhawan for some time.

After seeking legal opinion the Raj Bhawan approved the ordinance on Tuesday. As per the ordinance the OBC reservation in the ULBs will be set as per the report of the single member dedicated commission. It is now expected that the reservation status of all the ULBs will be finalised in one or two days. The notification for the ULBs is also likely to be issued by the State Election Commission later this month.

It is worth mentioning here that during the monsoon session of Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha, the speaker Ritu Bhushan Khanduri had sent the contentious Uttarakhand (Uttar Pradesh Municipal corporation 1959) Amendment Bill 2024 to the select committee of the Assembly.

The bill was sent to the select committee as some members of the Assembly had expressed apprehensions on the findings of the one member dedicated commission. This commission was set by the State government on the order of the Supreme Court to decide on OBC reservations in the local bodies.

 After some deliberations the select committee gave its green signal to the government to decide OBC reservation on the basis of the census of 2011. Since the session of the State assembly is not scheduled soon the State government promulgated an ordinance for OBC reservations on the basis of findings of the dedicated commission.

The term of the ULBs in the State had ended in December 2023 after which administrators were appointed in the ULBs. It is interesting to note that the State government had assured the High Court that the elections of the ULBs in Uttarakhand will be held before December 25. There are 102 ULBs in the State and the elections for 99 ULBs (barring Kedarnath, Badrinath and Gangotri Nagar Panchayats) will be held.