The court lacks jurisdiction to entertain the writ petition due to ongoing electoral processes and established precedents regarding reservation of local body offices.

JUDGMENT

This writ petition is filed seeking the following reliefs:

“i. Issue a writ of certiorari or any other appropriate writ, order or direction quashing the reservation of the office of President of Kulasekharapuram Grama Panchayath, Kollam District, as reserved for the Scheduled Caste category for the

2025–2030 election cycle as per Exhibit P2 notification.

ii. Issue a writ of mandamus or other appropriate direction commanding the 1st respondent, Kerala State Election Commission, to consider and dispose of Exhibit P6 representation submitted by the petitioner and to refix the reservation of the post of President of Kulasekharapuram Grama Panchayath in accordance with Section 153 (3) of the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 and Rules 3 to 6 of the Kerala Panchayat Raj (Reservation of Offices of Presidents) Rules, 1995, taking into account the proportional population and rotation principles.

iii. Directing the 1st respondent, the State Election Commission to review and reconsider the reservation of the office of President of Kulasekharapuram Grama Panchayat, Kollam District, for the 2025–2030 election cycle and to reclassify the said post under the General category iv. Declare that the continuous reservation of the office of President of Kulasekharapuram Grama Panchayat for three consecutive terms, without rotation, is arbitrary, illegal, and violative of Article 14 and Article 243-D of the Constitution of India.

v. Dispense with the filing of translation of vernacular documents. vi. Grant such other reliefs as this Hon’ble Court may deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of this case.” [SIC]

2. The main prayer in this writ petition is to quash the reservation of the office of President of Kulasekharapuram Grama Panchayath, Kollam District as reserved for the Scheduled Caste category for the 2025- 2030 election cycle as per Ext.P2 notification because the office of the President was successively reserved.

3. Heard the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner, the learned Standing Counsel appearing for the State Election Commission and the also the learned Standing Counsel appearing for the Panchayath. I also heard the learned Special Government Pleader.

4. A preliminary objection is raised by the Standing Counsel appearing for the State Election Commission stating that this Court cannot entertain the prayers in this Writ Petition in the light of the dictum laid down by this Court in State of Kerala and Others v. Noufal Babu E.K. and Others [2020 KHC 5613]. It is submitted that the general election for the year 2025 has already been declared. I will consider that point first. 5. Admittedly, the State Election Commission declared the general election to the local bodies for the year 2025 on 10.11.2025. The election is scheduled to be conducted on 09.12.2025 and 11.12.2025. Whether this Court can interfere in such situation is the question to be decided. In Noufal Babu’s case (supra), this Court considered the matter in detail. To know the facts of the case, I will extract paragraph No.1 and to know the dictum laid down in the judgment, I will extract paragraph No.70 of the above judgment: “1. The writ appeals are filed by the State and its officials, and the Kerala State Election Commission as captioned above, challenging the judgments dated 16-11- 2020, 19.11.2020 and 20.11.2020 rendered by the learned single Judge in various writ petitions, whereby the learned single Judge allowed the writ petitions and directed the Kerala State Election Commission to recast the reservation by rotation to the office of the President and Chairpersons of the local bodies in question, pursuant to the notifications issued by the State Election Commission dated 03.11.2020 in that regard, which is a process of the Genera