STATE OF M.P. Vs. JAYESH GURNANI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant / M.P. State Election Commission and Others have filed the present writ appeal under Sec. 2(1) of the Madhya Pradesh Uchcha Nyayalaya (Khand Nyaya Peeth Ko Appeal) Adhiniyam, 2005 being aggrieved by the order dtd. 10/1/2022 passed by the Writ Court, whereby Writ Petition No.12517 of 2021 has been allowed and the Gazette Notification dtd. 6/11/2020 has been quashed.

(2.) That, in the run up to the municipal elections in Indore, the process for reservation of wards for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Other Backward Classes (OBC) and Women was undertaken by the District Collector, Indore / appellant No. 3 in accordance with the Madhya Pradesh Municipalities (Reservation of Wards for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Women) Rules, 1994 (hereinafter referred as 'Reservation Rules, 1994'). The reservation proceedings were conducted on 31/7/2020, and subsequently, a Gazette Notification dtd. 6/11/2020 was issued by the Department of Urban Administration and Development / Appellant No. 2 finalizing the reservation of 85 wards in the Indore Municipal Area.

(3.) The case of the petitioner is that the principle of rotation of reservation was not followed while reserving wards and on examination, it came to be known that thirteen wards, which were previously reserved for Scheduled Castes and three wards which were earlier reserved for Scheduled Tribes have again been reserved for the same categories without any change or rotation, meaning thereby violating the rotational reservation principle enshrined in Rule 4 of the Reservation Rules, 1994 and which was also goes against the mandate as provided in Article 243T of the Constitution of India.