JUDGMENT - Chagla, C.J.

(1) This is a petition by a resident of Jalgaon who is a tax payer of the Jalgaon Municipality and a voter in one of the wards, challenging certain provisions of the Bombay Municipal Boroughs Act, 1925, which reserves seats for women in the election to the Jalgaon Municipality. The relevant provision of the Act is Section 10(1)(c), which provides that the State Government shall, from time to time, generally or specially for each Municipality, make rules consistent with this Act (and we are quoting the relevant part of the Sub-section) prescribing the number and extent of the wards to be constituted in each municipal borough, the number of councillors to be elected by each ward and the number of seats, if any, to be reserved for the representation of women; and pursuant to this Sub-section Government have made rules reserving four seats for women out of the 35 elected seats for the Jalgaon Municipality, and the contention of the petitioner is that this reservation offends against Arts. 14, 15 and 16 of the Constitution, and, therefore, the provision with regard to reservation of seats for women is ultra vires.

(2) Before we look to the articles of the Constitut

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