PANAJI
The State Government has told the Bombay High Court at Goa that the reservation policy they have adopted for the municipal elections is as per law and not arbitrary as alleged by the petitioners.
Goa Advocate General Devidas Pangam told the court that the policy of rotation that the state has adopted for reservations is as per the constitution.
“Our response is that it is not arbitrary. It has been in accordance with law. The argument of the petitioners is that you have to only reserve those seats where there is concentration of the reserved category people. Our argument is that it is not possible that way. Reservation has to be by a policy of rotation,” Adv Pangam said after the day’s hearings concluded.
“One seat where there is a concentration of people of a particular community that can never be forever reserved for a particular community. That will be contrary to the constitutional provision which speaks about rotation. Otherwise what will happen is particular wards where there may be some number of reserved category people and then the other people in the very same ward will not get an opportunity to contest the election and the reservation will be restricted to those particular seats only which will be unconstitutional,” he added.
Nine different petitioners had approached the High Court alleging that the reservations are arbitrary and have been selectively done by the ruling party to target those in the opposition and scuttle their chances.
The reservation policy has been opposed even by those within the BJP who say the haphazard manner will be to the detriment of the ruling party as well.
