SHAMNAD S Vs. KERALA STATE ELECTION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) A common question arises in these Writ Petitions. They were, therefore, heard together and are being disposed of by this common judgment.

(2.) The petitioner in this Writ Petition is a resident of Peringamala Grama Panchayat in Thiruvananthapuram District. He belongs to the Kani tribe which is recognised as a scheduled tribe in the State of Kerala. Article 243-D of the Constitution of India and the provisions of the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, 1994, hereinafter referred to as 'the Act' for short, provide for the reservation of seats in various levels of Panchayats and office of President of Panchayats at various levels in favour of candidates belonging to the scheduled castes, the scheduled tribes and also women. Section 153(3)(a) of the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, 1994, stipulates that the offices of President of Village Panchayats, Block Panchayats and District Panchayats in the State shall be reserved by the Government for the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes and the number of the offices of President reserved for the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes in the Panchayats at each level in the State shall bear, as nearly as may be, the same proportion to the total number of offices of President at each level as the population of the scheduled castes in the State or of the scheduled tribes in the State bears to the total population of the State. Clause (b) of Sub-section (3) of Section 153 provides that 50% each of the total number of offices of President of Village Panchayats, Block Panchayats and District Panchayats in the State reserved under Clause (a) and 50% each of the total number of offices of President of Village Panchayats, Block Panchayats and District Panchayats in the State, not so reserved, shall be reserved by the Government for women. Clause (a) of Sub-section (4) of Section 153 of the Act stipulates that the offices of the President reserved under Sub-section (3) shall be allotted to every level of Panchayat in the different districts by the State Election Commission by notification in the Gazette. Clause (b) of Sub-section (4) of Section 153 of the Act stipulates that in the case of Block Panchayats and Village Panchayats, the office of President reserved for the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes shall be allotted proportionate to their population in the respective districts. Clause (c) of Sub-section (4) of Section 153 stipulates that in the case of Village Panchayats, the reserved seats in each district shall be distributed among the Village Panchayats within the area of the various Block Panchayats in the district. Clause (d) of Sub-section (4) of Section 153 stipulates that before issuing the notification for General Election, the State Election Commission shall allot by rotation the reserved seats under Clauses (a), (b) and (c) and the rotation shall start from the Panchayat in which the scheduled castes, or the scheduled tribes or women have the largest percentage of population and then passed on to the next Panchayat having their largest percentage of population and so on.

(3.) In the elections to the local bodies held for the first time after the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, 1994, was enacted, the office of President of Vithura Grama Panchayat in Vellanad Block Panchayat of Thiruvananthapuram District was reserved for the scheduled tribes. In the elections held during the year 2000, there was no reservation of the office of President of Grama Panchayat in favour of the scheduled tribes in the whole of Thiruvananthapuram District. In the next elections, viz., during 2005, the office of President of Tholicode Grama Panchayat in Vellanad Block Panchayat (the very same Block Panchayat of which Vithura Grama Panchayat is also a part) was reserved in favour of the scheduled tribes. The grievance voiced by the petitioner in this Writ Petition is that in the ensuing elections, viz., elections scheduled to be held in October 2010, the office of President of Vithura Grama Panchayat has again been reserved for the scheduled tribes by Ext.P1 notification dated 26.8.2010 published in the Kerala Gazette (Extra ordinary) dated 26.8.2010. It is contended that the State Election Commission ought to have reserved the office of President applying Clause (d) of Sub-section (4) of Section 154 of the Act by rotation among the various Grama Panchayats in Thiruvananthapuram District and that instead they have confined the reservation only to Panchayats in Vellanad Block Panchayat. The petitioner contends that the decision taken by the State Election Commission to reserve the office of President of Vithura Grama Panchayat for the scheduled tribes is arbitrary and illegal and is liable to be set aside. It is contended that applying the rule of rotation stipulated in Section 153(4)(d) of the Act, the office of the President of Peringamala Grama Panchayat in Vamanapuram Block Panchayat should have been reserved in favour of the scheduled tribes.