Mr. Hemant Gupta, J.:- This order shall dispose of Letters Patent Appeals under Clause X of the Letters Patent bearing Nos.836, 837 and 845 of 2015 preferred against the common judgment passed by the learned Single Judge of this Court on 20.04.2015. This order shall also dispose of CWP No.10442 of 2015 wherein the petitioner has invoked the writ jurisdiction of this Court claiming a writ of mandamus for directing the respondents to convene a meeting for the election of Mayor, Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor of the Municipal Corporation, Mohali.

2. However, for the facility of reference, the facts are being taken from LPA No.836 of 2015 wherein the challenge is to the order passed by learned Single Bench of this Court on 20.04.2015 whereby the writ petitions were allowed and the reservation for the post of Mayor from the category of Women of the Municipal Corporation, S.A.S. Nagar, Mohali, was set aside.

3. The Municipal Corporations in the State of Punjab are constituted under Punjab Municipal Corporation Act, 1976 (for short ‘the 1976 Corporation Act’). Section 6-A prescribing the reservation of the post of Chairperson was inserted in the 1976 Corporation Act after Chapter IX-A inserted vide 74th amendment in the Constitution of India. The relevant Article 243T contemplating reservation for the office of Chairman of the Municipality for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Women reads as under:-

“243T. Reservation of seats.—

(1) Seats shall be reserved for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in every Municipality and the number of seats so reserved shall bear, as nearly as may be, the same proportion to the total number of seats to be filled by direct election in that Municipality as the population of the Scheduled Castes in the Municipal area or of the Scheduled Tribes in the Municipal area bears to the total population of that area and such seats may be allotted by rotation to different constituencies in a Municipality.

(2) Not less than one-third of the total number of seats reserved under clause (1) shall be reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes or, as the case may be, the Scheduled Tribes.

(3) Not less than one-third (including the number of seats reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes) of the total number of seats to be filled by direct election in every Municipality shall be reserved for women and such seats may be allotted by rotation to different constituencies in a Municipality.

(4) The offices of Chairpersons in the Municipalities shall be reserved for the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and women in such manner as the Legislature of a State may, by law, provide.

(5) The reservation of seats under clauses (1) and (2) and the reservation of offices of Chairpersons (other than the reservation for women) under clause (4) shall cease to have effect on the expiration of the period specified in article 334.

(6) Nothing in this Part shall prevent the Legislature of a State from making any provision for reservation of seats in any Municipality or offices of Chairpersons in the Municipalities in favour of backward class of citizens.”

4. In pursuance of provisions of sub-clause (4) of Article 243T, Section 6-A was inserted in the 1976 Corporation Act, which reads as under:-

“6-A. Reservation for the Offices of Chairperson

Offices of Mayors of Corporations shall be reserved by rotation in the prescribed manner for the members of the Scheduled Castes, Backward Classes and Women in the following ratio, namely:-

(a) five per cent for Scheduled Castes;

(b) two per cent for Backward Classes; and

(c) five per cent for women including women belonging to the Scheduled Castes.

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Section 2: Definitions - In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-

(1) xxxx xxxxx

(37) “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under this Act;

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5. In terms of provisions of Section 6-A, the State Government has prescribed mann