{"id":212839,"date":"2021-09-22T14:26:29","date_gmt":"2021-09-22T08:56:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/?p=212839"},"modified":"2021-09-22T16:49:11","modified_gmt":"2021-09-22T11:19:11","slug":"siswan-bazar-municipal-polls-supreme-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/constitutional-law-news\/supreme-court-news\/siswan-bazar-municipal-polls-supreme-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court directs UP state election commission to hold Siswan Bazar municipal polls within 2 months"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
The Supreme Court<\/a> has recently directed the State Election Commission to ensure that elections for establishing the newly constituted Municipal Council, Siswan Bazar is conducted at the earliest and, in any case, within two months and report compliance in that behalf while disposing the special leave petitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The petitioner is an elected chairman of Nagar Panchayat, Siswan Bazar who was elected when the last election of the Nagar Panchayat was held on December 1, 2017. The State Government issued a notification dated December 10, 2019 for constitution of the Municipal Council (Nagar Palika Parishad) in Siswan Bazar, Maharajganj comprising of 22 Revenue villages \/17 Gram Panchayats around the Nagar Panchayat area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, a PIL has been filed in the Allahabad High Court<\/a> seeking directions to dissolve the erstwhile Nagar Panchayat, Siswan Bazar, Maharajganj and constitution of the Municipal Council and Ward Committee .<\/p>\n\n\n\n The High Court through its order dated February 8, 2021 directed the District Magistrate, Maharajganj to hold election of newly created Municipal Council, Siswan Bazar, as early as possible. In compliance of the High Court’s order, the State Government had issued an order dated June 2, 2021 for appointment of the Administrator in respect of the Nagar Palika Parishad Siswan Bazar citing the provisions of Sections 333, 333-A and 343 of the U.P Municipalities Act, 1916.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moreover, the District Magistrate, Maharajganj appointed the Additional Sub Divisional Magistrate, Maharajganj as Administrator, Nagar Palika Parishad, Siswan, Bazar until further orders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The directions have been issued by the Court in special leave petitions challenging the two orders of the Allahabad High Court<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The High Court order dated February 8, 2021 directed the District Magistrate, Maharajganj is directed to hold the election of newly created Municipal Council, Siswan Bazar, as early as possible, however not later than three months and the High Court’s order dated August 9, 2021 upheld the directions issued by State Government and District Magistrate for appointment Administrator Nagar Palika Parishad, Siswan, Bazar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the Supreme Court<\/a> a Division Bench comprising Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice CT Ravikumar noted that\u00a0 the principal argument of the Petitioner(s) is that the status of Nagar Panchayat is not altered even though some new area has been added to its limits to make it a Municipal Council in terms of notification dated 31.12.2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also Read<\/strong>: Allahabad High Court denies bail to two UP Police officers in 2020 Bikru shootout case<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Court said that argument though attractive, at the first blush, clearly overlooks the dispensation provided for under Article 243-Q of the Constitution of India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “It refers to municipalities or Municipal Council areas of different types such as Nagar Panchayat, Municipal Council and Municipal Corporation, depending on the area and other factors to establish such an entity. Although, the notification refers to Section 3(2) of the Uttar Pradesh Municipalities Act, 1916\u00a0 the fact remains that the area in question has been upgraded to Municipal Council area. It is, therefore, not a case of expansion of Nagar Panchayat area as is sought to be projected by the petitioner(s)”,\u00a0 <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n -the Bench further noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n