The Bombay High Court on Thursday refused to put an immediate interim stay on the Maharashtra government ordinance that notified the increase of nine seats in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
A division bench of Justice A A Sayed and Justice Abhay Ahuja directed the Maharashtra government, Election Commission and the BMC to file affidavits in reply by December 21 to a plea by two BJP councillors challenging the November 30 decision.
The state urban development department on November 30 issued the notification increasing the number of seats from 227 to 236 after the proposal was cleared by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari.
The state cabinet approved the decision on November 10 and sent the file to the governor for his approval on November 16. It was approved by the governor on November 29 and the notification was issued the next day. Following this, the State Election Commission (SEC) will have to ask the BMC to redraw ward boundaries and submit a draft.
Senior counsel Milind Sathe, representing BJP councillors Abhijit Samant and Rajeshree Shirwadkar, said that the ordinance is arbitrary, illegal, unjust and contrary to the constitutional mandate and provisions of the Maharashtra Municipal Corporation (MMC) Act. They added that the number of municipal councillors has been increased without there being any “quantifiable data or latest census population data available”.
It further said that the ordinance is based on the 2011 census figures. As these figures are more than 10 years old, amending the MMC Act based on population data of 2011 is illegal, it added.
The plea further said that while the Act can be amended based on the latest census data, the work on it has been suspended or delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Sathe added that the number of wards was already increased as per the 2011 census for the 2012 and 2017 civic body elections and therefore the same census cannot be used as a basis to increase nine wards.
He also added that without quantifiable data, it cannot be assumed that the city’s population has increased, which could also have been reduced during the pandemic and the same needs to be ascertained before taking such a decision.
Besides requesting the court to quash and set aside the November 30 ordinance, the petitioners also sought a stay on its implementation pending hearing. BJP MLA Ameet Satam has also filed a plea against the state government decision.
The court refused to grant an immediate interim stay on the November 30 decision and also issued notice to Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni to explain the state’s position during the next hearing on December 22.
Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/bombay-hc-bmc-seats-increase-stay-7664570/
