PANAJI
The Supreme Court on Tuesday concluded hearings and reserved for orders the special leave petition filed by the Goa government challenging the order of the High Court which had asked the Goa government to redo the ward reservation process with respect to five municipal councils for failing to reserve the requisite number of seats for women as well as other irregularities.
Arguing on behalf of the Goa government, Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta took the stance that since the electoral process is already underway, courts should not interfere with the elections.
The petitioners can always avail of remedies after the electoral process is concluded, Mehta told the Supreme Court.
Supporting his arguments, Adv Narasimha representing the State Election Commission said that it does not wish to enter into the merits of the case and stressed that as the Election Commission it is a ‘mute spectator’ since the reservation is determined by the State government through the Director of Municipal Administration.
The State Election Commission told the court that it does not wish to get into the merits of the reservations but that its election process is already underway and has made huge manpower arrangements.
On the other hand, appearing for the original petitioners, Adv ANS Nadkarni pointed out before the court that the government was deliberately not arguing the case on merits because it is very well aware that it has violated the rules and regulation as was confirmed by the High Court.
Nadkarni also told the court that the High Court didn’t really put a stop on the postponement of the election process but only asked the government to re-notify the reservations based on the observations it has made.
