Hon’ble Dr. Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud, C.J.—

The Issue

The issue which has been raised before the Court in this batch of writ petitions pertains to the constitutional validity of the Uttar Pradesh Panchayat Raj (Reservation and Allotment of Seats and Offices) (Tenth Amendment) Rules, 2015 (Rules of 2015). These Rules were published in the Government Gazette on 16 September 2015. The Rules amended the provisions of the Uttar Pradesh Panchayat Raj (Reservation and Allotment of Seats and Offices) Rules, 1994 (Rules of 1994). The amended Rules of 2015 are challenged on the ground that they are ultra vires Article 243D, Article 243K and the provisions of Section 11-A (5) and Section 12 (5) of the Uttar Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act, 1947.

2. A preliminary objection has been raised to the maintainability of the writ petitions on the ground that Article 243-O(a) of the Constitution contains a bar on the validity of any law relating to the delimitation of constituencies or the allotment of seats to such constituencies, made or purporting to be made under Article 243K being called into question in any Court.

3. The constitutional challenge to the validity of the Rules of 2015 would fall for consideration only if Article 243-O is held not to bar this Court in the exercise of its jurisdiction under Article 226 from considering such a challenge. The election process for holding elections to gram panchayats in the State of Uttar Pradesh is yet to commence and hence the bar under clause (b) of Article 243-O is not yet attracted.

4. For convenience of exposition, this judgment is divided into the following parts:

PART A - Part IX of the Constitution and the statutory provisions in Uttar Pradesh

PART B - Delimitation and reorganisation of panchayats in Uttar Pradesh

PART C - Submissions

PART D - Analysis

PART E - Conclusion

PART A : Part IX of the Constitution and the statutory provisions in Uttar Pradesh

A I Part IX of the Constitution

5. Part IX of the Constitution was introduced by the seventy-third amendment which came into force with effect from 24 April 1993. A provision is made in Part IX for panchayats, which are defined in clause (d) of Article 243 to mean institutions of self-Government constituted under Article 243B, for rural areas. The expression ‘population’ is defined by clause (f) to mean the population as ascertained at the last preceding census of which the relevant figures have been published. Article 243 requires the constitution, in every State, of panchayats at the village, intermediate and district levels in accordance with the provisions of the Part. Article 243C (1) empowers the legislatures of states, by law, to make provisions with respect to the composition of panchayats. All seats in a panchayat are required to be filled up by clause (2) of Article 243C, by direct election from territorial constituencies in the panchayat area.

6. The controversy in the present case, turns upon interpretation of the provisions of Article 243D, which are as follows:

“243D. Reservation of seats.—(1) Seats shall be reserved for-

(a) the Scheduled Castes; and

(b) the Scheduled Tribes,

in every Panchayat 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 Panchayat as the population of the Scheduled Castes in that Panchayat area or of the Scheduled Tribes in that Panchayat area bears to the total population of that area and such seats may be allotted by rotation to different constituencies in a Panchayat.

(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 Panchayat shall be reserved