Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore (SP)

Bangalore, Jul 21: The stand of the government on the allocation of quotas for the top posts in zilla panchayats was vindicated, when the state High Court on Monday July 20, upheld the notification of the state government on the reservations for the posts of presidents and vice presidents for the zilla panchayats in the state.  It may be recalled, that election process for these posts had to be kept in abeyance, after the High Court issued a stay on this process in May, after aggrieved litigants questioned the propriety of some reservations. The government can now go ahead with these elections. At present, most of the zilla panchayats are headed by ad-hoc presidents, after the term of the regular presidents came to an end last month.

Justice Rammohan Reddy allowed the interlocutory application of the state government for vacating the stay order issued earlier on its notification and dismissed a batch of writ petitions that challenged the said notification dated May 4, 2009.

The court has asked the state to complete the reservation process to the posts of the zilla panchayat presidents and vice presidents sufficiently in advance, to avoid last-minute confusion. The rotation system of reservations should be adhered to properly, the court advised.

While issuing a stay order for the elections on May 13, the court had clarified that the stay would not apply to the zilla panchayats that had already completed the poll process. Accordingly, Kolar and Chikkaballapur zilla panchayats, where election was held before that date, escaped from the purview of the stay order.