HC stays panchayat poll notification

HYDERABAD: Justice G Rohini of the AP High Court on Monday directed the State Election Commission not to issue the election notification for the panchayat elections until Tuesday, when the court will resume hearing in the case questioning the quantum of reservation in the polls.It may be recalled that the AP Sarpanches Association filed the writ petition contending that the action of the government in providing reservation above 60 percent was illegal.Senior counsel S. Ramachandra Rao pointed out that the Supreme Court, in a recent verdict, had said that reservation cannot exceed 50 percent mark.The government, in the last three elections, had increased the reservation to 60 percent, which is unconstitutional, he said.On behalf of the government it was contended that the reservation was notified on the basis of its earlier actions in 1994, 2000 and 2006.Justice Rohini, at this stage, directed the government to produce the file related to the notification and directed the matter to be listed tomorrow. The judge directed the State Election Commission not to issue the election notification in the interregnum. Once the election notification is issued, it is assumed the election process has started and the contours of the courts jurisdiction are restricted.PIL on BC quota admittedThe PIL bench of the AP High Court comprising Chief Justice Nisar Ahmed Kakru and Justice Vilas Afzalpurkar on Monday admitted a writ petition challenging the action of the government in not sub-dividing the backward classes while providing reservation for elected offices in the local self government bodies.The writ petition filed by Sambasiva Rao and another contended that once the government decided to categorise the backward classes into A, B, C and D based on their relative backwardness, to club them together for the purpose of public offices would be illegal and unjust.