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2008 Supreme(P&H) 1707
PUNJAB & HARYANA HIGH COURT
Satish Kumar Mittal and Jaswant Singh JJ.
Om Prakash
Versus
State Of Punjab
Decided On : OCTOBER 3, 2008
IMPORTANT POINT
Municipalities--Classification of Municipalities in categories on basis of income and population cannot be said to be arbitrary--Such classification does not violate equality clause.
Headnote:(A) Municipal Law--Reservation of seats of members of scheduled castes/scheduled tribes, women and Backward clauses in Municipalities--Validity of--Classification--Classification of Municipalities in 4 categories on basis of income and population cannot be said to be arbitrary--Classification is made with an object to give better administration--Such classification does not violate equality clause under Article 14 of Constitution--|Punjab Municipal Act, 1911, Section 8-A--Constitution of India, 1950, Articles 14, 243-T--Determination of Number of Elected Number and Reservation of Offices of Presidents of Municipalities Rules, 1994, Rule 5, Schedules 3, 4, 5 and 6. (Para 12)
(B) Municipal Law--Classification of municipalities in different categories and then applying of 5% reservation for scheduled castes 5% for women and 2% for Backward class--Would not result in excessive reservation--|Punjab Municipal Act, 1911, Section 8-A--Constitution of India, 1950, Articles 14, 243-T--Determination of Number of Elected Number and Reservation of Offices of Presidents of Municipalities Rules, 1994, Rule 5, Schedules 3, 4, 5 and 6. (Para 13)
(C) Municipal Law--Official Languages--Contention that name of municipalities in schedule 3, 4, 5 and 6 are wrongly arranged serial wise in alphabetical order in English instead of Punjabi--Not tenable--Held; that until and unless a notification under Section 5 of the Languages Act is issued, all Acts passed by the Legislature of the State, Orders, Rules, Regulations and Bye laws issued by the State Government under the Constitution or under any law made by Parliament or the Legislature of the State, are not required to be in Punjabi, which is the official language of the State to be used in administration at the State level in Punjab--|Punjab Official Languages Act, 1967, Sections 3, 4, 5 & 6. (Paras 16 &17)
SATISH KUMAR MITTAL, J.
1. This order shall dispose of two petitions i. e. CWP no.11484 of 2008 and CWP No.10447 of 2008, as the common questions of law are involved in these petitions.
2. In both these petitions, the petitioners have prayed for quashing Rule 5 of the determination of the Number of Elected members and Reservation of Officers of presidents of Municipalities Rules, 1994 (hereinafter referred to as the Rules of 1994)and Schedules III, IV, V and VI of these Rules, being illegal, arbitrary, unjust, discriminatory and unconstitutional, with a further direction to the State government to draw a fresh single Roster of Reservation by arranging the municipalities in the State of Punjab in alphabetical order on the basis of Punjabi (Gurmukhi script) and then hold the forthcoming remaining elections to the post of presidents of the Municipalities in State of punjab.
3. Petitioner Nos.1 to 9 in CWP No.11484 of 2008 are the elected members from different Wards of the Municipal Council. Gobindgarh and petitioner No.10 is the member of Legislative Assembly from Amloh constituency and is Ex-officio Member of the municipal Council, Gobindgarh. The petitioner in cwp No.10447 of 2008 is a resident of Gobindgarh. The elections of Municipal Council, Gobindgarh were held on 30-6-2008. The office of President of the municipal Council, Gobindgarh has been reserved for Scheduled Caste category. The election to the office of President of this municipal Council is yet to be held. The case of the petitioners is that respondent No.1 has illegally reserved the office of the President of municipal Council, Gobindgarh for the Scheduled Caste category, whereas it should have been reserved for General category. In order to establish their case, the petitioners have challenged the legality and constitutionality of Rule 5 of the Rules of 1994, Schedules III, IV, V and VI of these rules and have prayed that the State Government should draw a fresh single Roster of Reservation by arranging the Municipalities in the State of Punjab in alphabetical order on the basis of Punjabi (Gurmukhi script)and thereafter hold the forthcoming elections to the offices of Presidents of various Municipalities, including the Municipal council, Gobindgarh.
4. Vide Seventy-Fourth amendment of the Constitution of India, Article 243-T was incorporated in the Constitution, which provides for reservation of seats of the Municipalities for Scheduled castes and Scheduled tribes, Women and Backward Classes. It also provides for reservation of the offices of the Chairpersons of the Municipalities for scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, women and Backward Classes. The relevant provisions of Article 243-T of the Constitution of India are being re-produced below for ready reference :
"243-T. 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 areas 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. xxx xxx xxx (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. xxx xxx xxx (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. " with a view to give effect to the abovesaid amendment of the Constitution, the Punjab state Legislature incorporated Sec.8-A in the Punjab Municipal Act, 1911 (hereinafter referred to as the Municipal Act), pro
