Bhubaneswar: The state government will move the Supreme Court challenging the verdict of Orissa High Court on reservation of seats in various Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) that will go to polls in next six months.
While pronouncing its order of a case related to reservation of seats for Nuapada civic body, the Orissa High Court had asked the state government not to rise reservation beyond 50 per cent for SC, ST and other categories.
During the last poll, there was no ceiling fixed for the reservation of seats that allowed the government to cross the 50 per cent threshold in over 50 ULBs.
Now, the government is in trouble on deciding how many seats will be reserved for which category of people. If the government goes by the existing norms, it may contradict the order of the court of law. If it goes by the order, the existing Act must have to be amended, said an official.
With this situation, the government has decided to knock at the doors of Supreme Court. “The state government will move the Supreme Court against the HC order on the reservation of seats in ULB elections,” Director of Municipal Administration (DMA) Sangramjit Nayak, told media here.
“As per existing norms, no percentage is fixed for reservation of seats for ST&SC candidates. The current reservation for BCC is 27 per cent while that of ST and SC is based on the size of their population. At many places, the quota goes over 50 per cent. It depends on population at particular places or areas,” he explained.
The State Election Commission (SEC) had asked the government to complete the process of delimitation of wards and reservation of seats, he said, adding, “Our election process is still on. Depending on the SC order, we will take action. The state government will plead for a stay on the HC order so that the election process is not hampered,” said the DMA. Continued on P5
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