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SC Bench to go into quota in local bodies
By Our Legal Correspondent
NEW DELHI, DEC. 20.A five-Judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court has referred to a nine-Judge Bench a batch of petitions challenging the Constitution 73rd and 74th amendments providing for reservation for backward classes and women in the election of members and chairpersons of panchayatraj institutions.
The Bench, comprising the Chief Justice Mr. S.P. Bharucha, Mr.Justice S.S.M. Quadri, Mr. Justice U.C. Banerjee, Mr. Justice S.N. Variava and Mr. Justice Shivaraj V. Patil, in its order said this matter must be referred to a larger Bench having regard to the reference to a larger Bench made in the case of the late `I.R. Coelho vs State of Tamil Nadu'.
The Bench which directed listing of the matter after the `Coelho's case' had issued notice to the Centre and the Attorney General in this case. The Bench said``We are told that most States have passed legislation in the light of the provisions of Part IX and IX-A (dealing with panchayats and municipalities) of the Constitution. It, therefore, seems advisable to us to issue notice to the States and UTs and the Advocates General of the States and UTs''.
The petitioners, Dr. K. Krishna Murthy, former Vice- Chancellor of the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, and three others submitted that reservation of seats in the election of members in local self- governments destroyed several elements which constituted the basic structure of the Constitution, such as equality, democracy and secularism.
The petitioners also challenged the validity of Karnataka Panchayatraj Act, 1993.
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