Delimitation Of Wards Cannot Be Done Based On Individual Grievance Of Unequal Distribution Of Funds And Manpower: Himachal Pradesh High Court

The Himachal Pradesh High Court has held that political delimitation of wards cannot be done based on individual grievances of unequal distribution of funds and manpower.

The Court was considering a Writ Petition against dismissal of objections raised by the Petitioner with regard to the delimitation of the wards of Municipal Council, Sundernagar.

The bench of Justice Ajay Mohan Goel held, "....this Court is of the considered view that in the exercise of its power of judicial review, the order passed by the Appellate Authority calls for no interference, because, neither the said order can be termed as perverse nor it can be said that the order has been passed by the Authority in a manner i.e., unwarranted from a quasi-judicial authority."

The Petitioner was represented by Advocate Vinod Chauhan while the Respondent was represented by Additional Advocate General Pushpinder Jaswal.

Facts of the Case

The State Election Commission in exercise of powers vested under Article 243ZA of the Constitution of India, read with Section 9 and 10 of the Municipal Corporation Act, 1994 and Section 10 and 281 of the Himachal Pradesh Municipal Act, 1994 read with Rules framed thereunder, issued the programme for delimitation of wards of Urban Local Bodies in the State (excluding Municipal Corporation, Shimla. The Petitioner preferred objections with regard to the delimitation of the wards of Municipal Council, Sundernagar. However, the Deputy Commissioner, Mandi, dismissed the objections devoid of any merit. Appeal against the same was also rejected.

Counsel for the Petitioner primarily argued that the delimitation process that has been undertaken with regard to Ward No.4, Salah is bad for the reason that after delimitation, the population of this ward is in excess of 2000, whereas, the population of other wards is much less as compared to this particular ward.

On the other hand, the Additional Advocate General argued that the delimitation process was undertaken by taking into consideration the statutory requirements and the wards have been formed by taking into account the natural boundaries like river nallah etc., and if at this stage any interference is done by the Court and any modification is ordered, then, it would be impossible to maintain the formation of the wards in a harmonious manner.

Reasoning By Court

The Court took note of the fact that the Petitioner is not alleging any mala fides as far as the process of delimitation of Municipal Council Sundernagar is concerned, nor it was his argument that the wards are not geographically compact, as is the requirement of Rule-4 of the 2015 Rules

"This Court is of the considered view that in the absence of there being any mala fides alleged in the course of the delimitation of the wards, it is not the prerogative of this Court, nor the domain of this Court to advise the statutory authorities as to how the limits of the wards are to be fixed", the Court ruled.

It agreed with the Appellate Court's observation that if delimitation is carried out solely on the basis of an individual’s grievance, it would lead to unnecessary administrative complications including the requirement for largescale changes in official documentation of local inhabitants of affected wards, such as Aadhaar Cards, Ration Cards, Voter IDs, etc. and unless and substantial and representative demand is raised by a significant section of the public, and therefore the plea for redrawing of ward boundaries solely because of individual dissatisfaction cannot be accepted.

The Petition was accordingly dismissed.

Cause Title: Shiv Singh Sen v. State of Himachal Pradesh and others

Appearances:

Petitioner- Advocate Vinod Chauhan, Advocate Nandita

Respondent- Additional Advocate General Pushpinder Jaswal, Advocate Surinder K. Sharma, Advocate Rajesh Kashyap

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