Uttarakhand High Court
Through: Shri M. S. Tyagi vs State Of Uttarakhand on 27 July, 2022
IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND
AT NAINITAL
Writ Petition (MS) No. 1719 of 2022
Munesh Kumar. ................Petitioner.
Through: Shri M. S. Tyagi, learned Sr.
Advocate assisted by Shri Sunil Chandra
learned counsel for the petitioner.
-Versus-
State of Uttarakhand
and others. .........Respondents.
Through: Shri V.D. Bisen, learned Brief Holder
for the State.
Shri Sanjay Bhatt, learned counsel for
respondent no. 2.
Date of Hearing and Judgment : 27.07.2022
Shri Sanjaya Kumar Mishra, J.
(Upon hearing of learned counsel for the parties, the Court has passed
the following judgment):
1. In this writ petition, the petitioner has prayed for issuance
of a writ of Certiorari quashing the impugned order/ final
publication dated 13.07.2022 of reservation scheme for the
panchayat election of territorial constituencies of Zila Panchayat
Haridwar so far as it relates to the territorial constituency 42 -
Habibpur Kurdi, Development Block Laksar, Tehsil Laksar,
District Haridwar and for issuance of a direction in the nature of
Mandamus directing the respondent no. 3 to declare territorial
constituency 42 - Habibpur Kurdi, Development Block Laksar,
Tehsil Laksar, District Haridwar reserved for OBC or to keep it as
it was unreserved in tentative list dated 07.07.2022.
2. Petitioner, in this case, claims that he is a resident of village
- Khedi Mubarikpur, which was included in the territorial
constituency of Akaudha Mukarmatpur for the panchayat
election 2010; in the 2015, the said village was included in the
territorial constituency of 44 - Dabki Kalan and however, under
delimitation scheme, for the purpose of panchayat election 2022,
the said village has now been included in the territorial
constituency 42 - Habibpur Kurdi.
3. The grievance of the petitioner is that for the last three
elections, the territorial constituencies of Akaudha Mukarmatpur
and 44 Dabki Kalan were reserved for Scheduled Caste category
candidate. In all the three constituencies, including the village
Khedi Mubarikpur, the population of "Other Backward Class"
person are in majority hence, reservation should have been given
to OBC candidate.
4. It is also borne out from the record that on 07.07.2022, the
Authorities have published a tentative list of reservation for
panchayat elections and invited objections. After considering the
objections, the Authorities came to the conclusion that seat of 42
Habibpur Kurdi should be reserved for "Scheduled Caste"
candidates and accordingly, a final list has been published
reserving the seat of 42 Habibpur Khurd for Scheduled Caste
candidates.
5. The petitioner's grievance is that his village is included in
three different successive constituencies for panchayat elections
for the year 2010, 2015 and 2022 and the seat has been reserved
for Scheduled Caste Category candidate. This has been done with
ulterior and mala fide motive just to exclude their village and
constituency from being reserved for OBC category.
6. It is submitted by learned Sr. Advocate for the petitioner
that there is mala fide on the part of the Authorities to include the
village wherein petitioner is residing, in the constituency which is
reserved for SC category. However, no relevant material is placed
before us, from which this Court can come to the conclusion that
action of the respondent authorities is tainted with mala fide. It is
a settled principle of law that bona fide is always presumed but
mala fide has to be established by the party setting it.
7. In this case, the action of the respondent does not appear to
be tainted with mala fide. There is no direct material that they
have in fact acted in mala fide manner. Moreover, this Court is of
the opinion that the real grievance of the petitioner is regarding
delimitation process and not for reservation given in 42 Habibpur
Kurdi constituency to the scheduled caste category candidate. In
that view of the matter, the relief prayed for by the petitioner
cannot be granted.
8. With such observations, the writ petition is dismissed being
devoid of merits.
(Sanjaya Kumar Mishra, J)
SKS
