Chief Justice G. Narendar, Justice Alok Mahra, Uttarakhand High Court
Substantial Compliance With Article 243-D: Uttarakhand High Court Permits Continuation Of Panchayat Elections In State
|The dispute before the Uttarakhand High Court revolved around the repetitions in respect of Scheduled Casts, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Class seats in the Zila Panchayats.
While observing that there was substantial compliance with Article 243- D of the Constitution, the Uttarakhand High Court has vacated the stay on the interim order whereby the Panchayat elections were stayed.
The dispute revolved around the repetitions in respect of Scheduled Casts, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Class seats in the Zila Panchayats.
The Division Bench of Chief Justice G. Narendar and Justice Alok Mahra ordered, “In that view of the matter, the interim order dated 23.06.2025 stands vacated. The election process shall be commenced from the stage it was stopped.”
Senior Counsel Rajendra Dobhal represented the Petitioners while Advocate General S.N. Babulkar represented the Respondent.
Factual Background
On an earlier occasion, the Court found a violation of the constitutional mandate of Article 243-D and stayed the further proceedings pursuant to the election notification. The matter was mentioned by the Advocate General, stating that the interim order had rendered nugatory the election process set in motion by the State. On the issue of compliance with the provisions of Article 243-D, certain data detailing reservations assigned in the 2019 Elections and the 2025 elections had been placed before the Court.
Reasoning
On a perusal of the chart describing the rotation of territorial constituency in different Zila Panchayats, the Bench noted that the total number of repetitions in respect of Scheduled Casts, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Class seats, out of 358 Zila Panchayats, amounted to only 8 in number, i.e. 1 repetition in Zila Panchayat Chamoli,1 repetition in Zila Panchayat Bageshwar, 2 repetition in Zila Panchayat Udham Singh Nagar, 2 repetition in Zila Panchayat Nainital, 1 repetition in Zila Panchayat Uttarkashi and 1 repetition in Zila Panchayat Champawat.
“In all, the number of repetitions in comparison with the total seats is miniscule, and it has also come out during the course of hearing that there has also been delimitation exercise and certain new panchayats have been carved out”, it said.
The Bench held, “...and this Court having, prima facie, concluded that there is substantial compliance with the provisions of Article 243- D, the interim order granted on 23.06.2025 cannot be continued and the election process are to be continued from the stage where they were halted by this Court.”
Considering the fact that the stoppage of the election process, i.e. by four days, resulted in disruption of the filing of nominations, the Bench extended the last date for filing the nomination by a further period of four days. The matter has now been listed on July 28, 2025.
Cause Title: Berendra Singh Butola v. State of Uttarakhand & another (Case No.: Writ Petition (M/B) No. 400 of 2025)
Appearance
Petitioner: Senior Counsels Rajendra Dobhal, V.B.S. Negi, Advocates M.C. Pant, Jitendra Chaudhary, Anil Kumar Joshi, Shobhit Saharia, Aditya Singh, Yogesh Kumar Pacholia, Ankush Negi, Azmeen, Suryakant Maithani, Dushyant Mainali, Nikhil Bhatt, Krishan Mohan Joshi, Rishab Ranghar, Rohit Kumar, Shakti Singh, Niranjan Bhatt, Hari Mohan Bhatia, Nivesh Bahguna, M.S. Bhandari, Reituparn Joshi, Shivanand Bhatt, Kurban Ali, I.D. Paliwal, Mahendra Singh Rawat, Shailendra Nauriyal, Deep Prakash Bhatt, Vikas Pande, Ketan Joshi, Prashant Khanna
Respondent: Advocate General S.N. Babulkar, Additional Advocate General J.P. Joshi, Chief Standing Counsel C.S. Rawat, Additional Chief Standing Counsels Rajeev Singh Bisht, Standing Counsels B.S. Parihar, Gajendra Chaudhary, Advocate Sanjay Bhatt