Karnataka High Court
Sharanappa vs The State Of Karnataka And Ors on 11 December, 2023
Author: R.Devdas
Bench: R.Devdas
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WA No.200142 of 2023
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA,
R
KALABURAGI BENCH
DATED THIS THE 11TH DAY OF DECEMBER, 2023
PRESENT
THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE R.DEVDAS
AND
THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE C M JOSHI
WRIT APPEAL NO.200142 OF 2023 (LB-ELE)
BETWEEN:
SHARANAPPA S/O LACHAMAPPA,
AGE: 39 YEARS,
OCC: MEMBER GRAM PANCHAYAT,
ULLESUGUR, TQ: WADAGERA,
DIST : YADAGIRI.
...APPELLANT
(BY SRI. BASAWARAJ KAREDDY, ADVOCATE)
AND:
Digitally signed by 1. THE STATE OF KARNATAKA
VARSHA N
RASALKAR THROUGH THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER,
Location: High
Court Of Karnataka GRAMBHIVRUDHI AND PANCHAYAT RAJ
DEPARTMENT, M.S. BUILDING,
BENGALURU - 560 001.
2. THE STATE ELECTION COMMISSIONER
KARNATAKA COOPERATIVE MARKETING
FEDERATION BUILDING (BACK SIDE),
1ST FLOOR, NO. 8 CUNNINGHAM ROAD,
BENGALURU - 560 001.
3. THE DEPUTY COMMISSIONER
YADAGIRI,
DIST: YADAGIRI - 585 223.
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WA No.200142 of 2023
4. THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
ZILLA PANCHAYAT,
YADAGIRI, DIST: YADAGIRI - 585 223.
5. THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
TALUKA PANCHAYAT,
WADAGERA, DIST: YADAGIRI - 585 223.
6. THE GRAM PANCHAYAT
ULLESUGUR, TQ: WADAGERA,
DIST: YADAGIRI,
BY ITS PANCHAYAT DEVELOPMENT OFFICER,
ULLESUGUR, TQ: WADAGERA,
DIST: YADAGIRI - 585 223.
7. THE ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER
YADAGIRI, DIST: YADAGIRI - 585 223.
8. PRESCRIBED OFFICER
DEPUTY DIRECTOR DEPT. OF
FOOD & CIVIL SUPPLY YADAGIRI,
THE GRAM PANCHAYAT ULLESUGUR,
TQ: WADAGERA,
DIST: YADAGIRI - 585 223.
9. SUGURESH S/O SHARANAPPA PADASHETTY,
AGE: 39 YEARS,
OCC : MEMBER OF GRAM PANCHAYAT,
ULLESUGUR - 585 223.
10. SHARANAPPA S/O SHIVALINGAPPA,
AGE: 36 YEARS,
OCC: MEMBER OF GRAM PANCHAYAT,
ULLESUGUR,
BOTH R/O. ULLESUGUR,
TQ: WADAGERA,
DIST: YADAGIRI - 585 223.
...RESPONDENTS
(BY SMT. PRATHIMA HONNAPUR, AAG A/W.
SRI. MALLIKARJUN C. BASAREDDY, GOVT. ADVOCATE FOR
RESPONDENT NOS.1, 3, 7 AND 8;
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WA No.200142 of 2023
SRI. AMRESH S. ROJA, ADVOCATE FOR R2;
SRI. ARUNKUMAR AMARGUNDAPPA, ADV., FOR R4 TO R6;
SRI. AMEET KUMAR DESHPANDE, SENIOR COUNSEL
APPEARING FOR,
SRI. GANESH NAIK, ADV., FOR C/R-9;
SRI. KRUPA SAGAR PATIL, ADVOCATE FOR R10)
THIS WRIT APPEAL IS FILED UNDER SECTION 4 OF
KARNATAKA HIGH COURT ACT - 1961, PRAYING TO ALLOW
THE APPEAL AND DISMISS THE W.P. NO.202196/2023 AND
SET-ASIDE THE ORDER DATED 06-10-2023 PASSED BY THE
LEARNED SINGLE JUDGE AND DISMISS THE WRIT PETITION
NO.202196/2023 BY ALLOWING THIS APPEAL, IN THE
INTEREST OF JUSTICE AND EQUITY.
THIS APPEAL, COMING ON FOR FINAL DISPOSAL, THIS
DAY, R.DEVDAS J., DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:
JUDGMENT
R. DEVDAS J., (ORAL):
The appellant though not a party to the proceedings
before the learned Single Judge, with the leave of this
Court has filed this writ appeal calling in question the
order dated 06.10.2023 passed in W.P.No.202196/2023.
2. Learned Counsel for the appellant submitted that
respondents No.9 and 10 filed the writ petition before the
learned Single Judge calling in question an order dated
20.07.2023 passed by respondent No.3-Deputy
Commissioner, appointing an Election Officer to conduct
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the elections to the posts of Adhyaksha and Upadhyaksha
for various Grama Panchayats of Wadagera Taluk, Yadagir
District. The writ petitioners had also given an
representation dated 20.06.2023, seeking modification of
the reservation provided to the posts of the Adhyaksha
and Upadhyaksha of Ullesugur Grama Panchayat. Earlier,
the petitioners had filed W.P.No.201922/2023 challenging
the notification of reservation, but the writ petition was
disposed of directing the Authorities to consider the
representation for changing the reservation. Learned
Counsel submits that the very fact that the writ petitioners
were challenging the appointment of the Election Officer to
conduct the elections and it was also brought to the notice
of the learned Single Judge that calendar of events were
announced on 25.07.2023 declaring the date of elections
as 04.08.2023, shows that the writ petition could not have
been entertained. But the learned Single Judge passed an
interim order of stay on 03.08.2023 and thereafter
proceeded to pass the impugned order dated 06.10.2023
directing the respondent-authorities to reconsider the
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reservation of the posts of Adhyaksha to Ullesugur Grama
Panchayat, while setting aside the notification dated
21.06.2023. Learned Counsel would submit that the
impugned order would be clearly contrary to the
established principles of law that once the calendar of
events are announced, no Court shall pass any order that
would cause interference in the course of the elections.
Reference is made to the celebrated case of
N.P.Ponnuswami Vs. The Returning Officer, Nammakkal
Constituency and others, AIR 1952 SC 64.
3. Learned Additional Advocate General (AAG)
appearing on behalf of the respondent-authorities and the
State has taken this Court through the check-list prepared
by the Election Officer and the guidelines issued by the
State Election Commission on 25.05.2023. The learned
AAG would submit that in terms of the notification issued
by the State Election Commission, the number of posts
fixed for every Grama Panchayat in the Taluk and the
District clearly shows that insofar as the Wadegera Taluk
is concerned, there are 17 Grama Panchayaths. In terms
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of the rules of reservation and the constitutional
mandates, 9 out of 17 seats are reserved for Women.
Based on the population of the Scheduled Castes,
Scheduled Tribes, Backward Class 'A' and Backward Class
'B', the number of posts reserved in Wadagera taluk are as
follows; Scheduled Castes-4, out of which 2 posts are
reserved for Woman; Scheduled Tribes-1, which is
reserved for Woman; Backward Class 'A' - 2 and both are
reserved for Woman; and Backward Class 'B' -1 without
further reservation and 9 seats for the General Merit
category out of which 4 posts are reserved for Women.
4. The learned AAG has thereafter drawn the
attention of this Court to the check-list maintained by the
Election Officer. It is submitted that in terms of the
reservation already fixed, since only 1 Scheduled Tribe
category seat is to be reserved in the entire Taluk, the
Election Officer has fed the required information into the
computer system. At this point of time, the learned AAG
would submit that commencing from the year 2020, the
Election Commission has put in place a computerized
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application for the purpose of rotation of reservation which
is known as GPPVP application. It is submitted that since
the entire process is now computerized, scope of human
intervention is very little and almost zero. It is further
submitted that the entire process is now video recorded
and it is available for scrutiny.
5. In that view of the matter, it is submitted that the
Election Officer has followed the rules which are in the
form of guidelines issued by the State Election
Commission. It is submitted that in terms of the
guidelines, the Election Officer is required to commence
from the category of Scheduled Caste, find out which are
the Grama Panchayats which were earlier given the
reservation of Scheduled Caste and thereafter, a list of the
next eligible Grama Panchayats for allotment of Scheduled
Caste category will be prepared. Having regard to the
number of seats to be reserved for Scheduled Caste,
namely., 4 seats in the present context, the next 4 Grama
Panchayats in accordance with the descending order of
population are identified by the Election Officer and
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accordingly, the reservation is made. In the same
manner, the category of Scheduled Tribe is taken up and
reservation is provided. Similar is the case in respect of
Backward Class 'A' and Backward Class 'B'. It is
submitted that from amongst the remaining Grama
Panchayats, the General Merits seats are allotted with
preference being given to the Women candidates.
6. In that view of the matter, learned AAG would
submit that the post of Adhayaksha is reserved for
Scheduled Caste category in Ullesugur Grama Panchayat
and the post of Upadhyaksha is reserved for General
Woman. The learned AAG would submit that since 4 seats
of Scheduled Caste are available in the Taluk and out of
total 17 seats, if the policy of rotation is followed, then
invariably on the 4th term the Scheduled Caste category
may be repeated, since it would complete the cycle.
However, insofar as Scheduled Tribe category is
concerned, learned AAG would submit that since only 1
seat of Scheduled Tribe is available to be rotated amongst
17 seats in the Taluk, the chances of the Grama Panchyats
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which are the lower in the descending order of population
of Scheduled Tribe will be that much more minimal.
However, the learned AAG would submit that while
following the rotation system in terms of the rules and
guidelines, every Grama Panchayat will get an opportunity
depending on the population of the particular category and
where it is listed in the descending order of the category of
reservation. In that view of the matter, the learned AAG
would submit that no fault can be found in the exercise
undertaken by the respondent-Election Officer, since the
rules of rotation have been followed and the reservation is
done in accordance with law.
7. Per contra, learned Senior Counsel Sri.Ameet
Kumar Deshpande, appearing on behalf of the contesting
respondents No.9 and 10 would submit that even in terms
of the arguments of the learned AAG, there are certain
gray areas such as the inclusion of a new Grama Panchyat
into the Taluk, as in the present case, Ikooru Grama
Panchyat is said to have been included in the Taluk in the
year 2015. Learned Senior Counsel would submit that
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these interventions may cause a disruption in the rotation
of reservation already put in place and commenced in the
year 1993. Although the learned Senior Counsel sought to
point out that the learned Single Judge had made
reference to the decision of this Court in the case M. Abdul
Azeez Vs State of Karnataka and Others, reported in ILR
2014 Kar. 1839, nevertheless, when this Court pointed
that there cannot be any quarrel regarding the position of
law enunciated in the said judgment that it is mandatory
to follow the rule of rotation, the learned Senior Counsel
would restrict his submission while saying that even
though a computer system is put in place, however, the
disruption of the process by adding a new Grama
Panchayat or removing a Grama Panchyat would result in
deprivation of the reservation and therefore, this Court
should issue certain directions in this regard.
8. Having heard the learned Counsel for the
appellant, the learned AAG and learned Senior Counsel for
the contesting respondents and on perusing the appeal
memo, this Court finds that there is substance in the
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contention of the appellant and learned AAG. However,
this Court should notice that in the statement of objections
filed at the hands of the respondent-State and the Election
Officer, the relevant information and grounds have not
been raised. Irrelevant information has been provided in
the statement of objections as if the consideration for
rotation of the reservation for the posts of Adhyaksha and
Upadhyaksha of the Grama Panchayt would depend on
facts and figures of the entire State. It is by now well
settled that insofar as the posts of Adhyaksha and
Upadhyaksha of the Grama Panchayats are concerned, for
the purpose of reservation, the Taluk is taken as the unit.
Rotation of the posts are made within the Taluk. However,
once the number of posts are fixed by a notification issued
by the Election Commission, the Election Officer is only
required to rotate the same amongst the various Grama
Panchyats in the Taluk.
9. Having regard to the material available on record,
it is clear that insofar as Wadagera Taluk is concerned,
there are 17 Grama Panchayats. Out of which 4 posts are
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reserved for Scheduled Caste and only 1 post is reserved
for Scheduled Tribe category. That being the position, the
cycle of rotation for Scheduled Tribe category to complete
the cycle will take 17 terms. Therefore, the grievance of
respondents No.9 and 10 that the reservation of
Scheduled Tribe category was never given to Ullesugur
Grama Panchayat, is clearly answered by the learned AAG
that having regard to the fact that the Grama Panchayath
has got only 1 post of Scheduled Tribe category and there
are other Grama Panchayats which have more than 2
posts for Scheduled Tribes category and in one case, i.e.,
Wadagera Grama Panchayat there are 5 posts of
Scheduled Tribe. Therefore, if the grievance of the
contesting respondents is that the Ullesugu Grama
Panchayat was never given Scheduled Tribe category
reservation for the post of Adhyaksha, then it has been
rightly answered by the learned AAG while pointing out to
the facts and figures.
10. Moreover, while exercising the extraordinary
discretionary powers of this Court under Article 226 of the
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Constitution of India, in such cases of reservation and
rotation in the reservation, this Court is only required to
find out as to whether the respondent authorities have
followed the rules or not. If the rules are followed, that
should satisfy the requirement of law. The rules have been
formulated having regard to the provisions of law
contained in the statute as well as the constitutional
mandate that every category of reservation should be
given an opportunity in every sphere of the governance
including the Grama Panchayats. Since the rules have
been formulated keeping in view the said constitutional
mandate and requirement and there is no challenge raised
to the rules and fixation of the number of posts in the
Taluk by the Election Commission, this Court need not look
any further.
11. Having been satisfied that the respondent-
authorities have followed the relevant rules of rotation in
reservation while fixing the reservation for the post of
Adhyaksha and Upadhyaksha, the appeal has to succeed.
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12. Accordingly, the writ appeal is allowed. The
impugned order dated 06.10.2023 in W.P.No.202196/2023
passed by the learned Single Judge is hereby set aside.
The respondent-Election Officer may proceed to conduct
the elections in terms of the reservation notification and in
accordance with law.
13. In view of disposal of the main appeal, pending
Interlocutory Application does not survive for consideration
and is accordingly disposed of.
Sd/-
JUDGE
Sd/-
JUDGE
DL
Ct:VK
