Kolkata, Nov. 6 -- The Calcutta High Court has restrained the West Bengal State Election Commission (SEC) from announcing Kolkata Municipal Corporation elections under revised ward boundaries, holding that the delimitation exercise was prima facie flawed, as its recommendation came from an Administrator who could not act as the Corporation.
A division bench of Justices Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya and Arjun Ray Mukherjee allowed an appeal by Dipu Das, an elector and former councillor, against a single judge's refusal to grant interim protection. The restraint will continue until disposal of her writ petition challenging the September 11 notification amending Schedule II of the KMC Act.
The bench observed that the Corporation comprises elected councillors and nominated members.
An Administrator appointed after its dissolution is meant to keep administrative functions running until a new body is elected.
The Administrator may discharge executive duties assigned to Corporation functionaries, but cannot assume the Corporation's legislative or quasi-legislative role or recommend changes to ward boundaries.
The judges noted that the State had cited a Corporation recommendation as the basis for the amendment, although the elected body had been dissolved and the recommendation came from its Administrator.
This, the court said, struck at the foundation of the delimitation process and prima facie vitiated the subsequent amendment.
Rejecting the objection to the court's jurisdiction, the bench held that the constitutional bar on intervention in election matters did not prevent judicial review of this pre-election exercise under the KMC Act.
The judges said the sequence of events raised apprehensions of arbitrariness. However, it was too early to conclude whether there had been mala fide intent or gerrymandering. The observations are tentative, and the main challenge remains pending.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.