JUDGMENT

(Prayer: Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying for issuance of a Writ of Declaration declaring the scheme of selection process as formulated by the 8th respondent and emanating from the impugned communication of 1st respondent herein through the 2nd respondent dated 18.12.2019 culminating into impugned order of the 3rd respondent in No.LGS/SEC/2019 dated 20.12.2019 followed by impugned Advertisement in No.13533/LAS/A2/2009-20 dated 06.01.2020 issued by the 7th respondent as published in Hindu Newspaper, Nationwide Edition on 07.01.2020, as arbitrary, ultra-vires and unconstitutional and to pass such further or other orders as this Court may deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case.)

M. Sathyanarayanan, J.

1. The stand-off between democratically elected Government of Union Territory of Puducherry [in short ‘UTP’] and the Lieutenant Governor and Administrator of UTP, has once again reached the portals of this Court in the form of this litigation.

2. The writ petitioner is the Minister for Local Administration Department and Public Works Department of the Government of Puducherry and he has filed this Writ Petition to declare that the scheme of selection process as formulated by the 8th respondent, namely Dr.Kiran Bedi, The Administrator [in official capacity as the 3rd respondent] and emanating from the impugned communication of the 1st respondent through the order of the 2nd respondent dated 18.12.2019, which resulted in the impugned order of the 3rd respondent dated 20.12.2019, followed by the impugned Advertisement dated 06.01.2020, issued by the 7th respondent, as published in certain News Dailies dated 07.01.2020, as arbitrary, ultra-vires and unconstitutional.

3. The matter in issue pertains to setting aside the appointment of Thiru T.M.Balakrishnan, I.A.S. (Retd.) as State Election Commissioner [in short ‘SEC’] done by UTP and issuing an advertisement calling for applications to fill up the said post.

4. The petitioner, in the affidavit filed in support of this Writ Petition would aver among other things that at the instance of the respondents 1 to 5, unconstitutional attempt has been made to displace the lawfully appointed SEC in contravention of the Constitutional Scheme and statutory framework with a malafide intention of delaying the Local Body Elections for UTP and also in defiance of the mandate of the Hon’ble Supreme Court. The petitioner would further aver that the said unconstitutional attempt is engineered with an evil design of conferring one Thiru G.Theva Neethi Dhas with the office of SEC and the qualifications enumerated are tailor-made in such a way so as to accommodate him. According to the petitioner, the present case is a product of another act of the 3rd respondent / Administrator, who has also been arrayed in her individual capacity as the 8th respondent herein, of running parallel Government ignoring the elected Government.

5. As regard the Locus Standi of the petitioner to file this Writ Petition, it is averred that the “Local Government” is a “State Subject” placed under Entry 5 of List II of Schedule VII of the Constitution of India and it relates to administration of Local Body including Elections and it comes within the domain of the Local Administration Department and the petitioner, being in-charge of the said department, is primarily responsible for the disposal of the business of that department as per Rule 6(2) of the Rules of Business of Government of Puducherry, 1963 [in short ‘Business Rules’].

6. The petitioner, dealing with factual aspects, would state that Local Body Government of UTP comprised of 5 Municipalities, 10 Commune Panchayats comprising of 98 Village Panchayats in three blocks and election to the said bodies is overdue since 2011 and the office of SEC remains vacant since 31.05.2015.

7. The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, in the judgment dated 08.05.2018 made in Civil Appeal Nos.4994 – 4995 of 2018 [The Chief Secreta