HC dismisses petition challenging govt notification on polls

Mumbai, Jan 19 (UNI) The Bombay High Court today dismissed a petition filed by Sarthi Seva Sangh, a non-governmental organisation, challenging the State government's notification for the forthcoming Municipal Corporation Elections, stating that it had been filed very late.

A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice H L Gokhale and Justice V M Kanade held that while the notification was issued on August 14, last year, the petitioner had come before the court on January 16 for the first time when the elections are scheduled for February one.

Even though the judges agreed the Corporation had failed to abide by requirement of rotation of the Constituencies reserved for the Schedule Tribes, they said the petition had come very late.

Meanwhile, Advocate Preeti Purandare, representing the Corporation, had submitted before the court that the Wards were formed in 2001 based on the Census of 1991. But now the boundaries of the Wards have changed as also the population. Therefore, even though some of the wards reserved for the Scheduled Tribes have been retained, their boundaries were not the same.

UNI