HC Admits Puducherry Minister's PIL Against LG's Order on SEC

Chennai, Jan 28 (PTI) The Madras High Court on Tuesday admitted a PIL filed by Puducherry Minister A Namassivayam challenging the scheme of selection process adopted by Lt Governor Kiran Bedi for the appointment of State Election Commissioner of the Union Territory.

In his public interest litigation (PIL) petition, the Local Administration Minister sought to declare the LG's order framing the scheme as unconstitutional, arbitrary and ultra vires of the Constitution.

A bench comprising Justice M Sathyanarayanan and Justice R Hemalatha referred to submissions of senior counsels who drew the court's attention to relevant provisions of the Constitution as well as that of the Puducherry Municipality Act and related Supreme Court orders.

"This court upon hearing the submissions of the senior counsels appearing for the petitioner and on going through the materials is of the view that the issue involved in the writ petition requires adjudication. Admit notice," it said.

It posted to January 31 a miscellaneous petition seeking to stay the operation of the LG's order framing the scheme for the selection of the SEC, enabling the counsels appearing for Union Home Ministry and Bedi, who is the administrator/ Lieutenant Governor, to get necessary instructions.

The matter relates to the appointment of retired IAS officer T M.Balakrishannan as the SEC by the Council of Ministers on May 25, 2018 for conduct of local body polls.

The Lt Governor did not approve the appointment and in December quashed it as 'null and void ab initio' and formulated the scheme for filling the post.

She had then said the Centre had directed the Puducherry government to fill the post through a selection committee in "a transparent, competent and fair manner."

The petitioner accused Bedi of making an unconstitutional attempt to displace "lawfully appointed" SEC at the instance of the Centre in contravention of the Constitutional Scheme and statutory framework with a mala fide intention of delaying the local body elections in 'defiance' of the mandate of Supreme Court.

He claimed the attempt was engineered with an evil design of appointing G Theva Neethi Das (Officer on Special Duty to the Lt Governor) as the SEC. The qualifications were enumerated in such a fashion so as to accommodate him.

The Minister submitted the present case was a product of another act of the Administrator (Lt Governor) running a parallel government ignoring the elected government.

Local Government, a state subject, is placed under Entry 5 of List II of Schedule VII of Constitution and the business of Government of Puducherry relating to the administration of Local Bodies including elections is placed under the Local Administration Department.

The Minister incharge of a department is primarily responsible for the disposal of the business of that department as per Rule 6 (2) of Rules of Business of Government of Puducherry, 1963, he submitted.

The petitioner contended that the direction of the LG in prescribing qualifications and constituting Selection Committee suffered from lack of jurisdiction and ran contrary to existing rules in force. PTI CORR

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