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Synopsis

A Supreme Court bench of Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Krishna Murari today refused to interfere with the order of Bombay High Court at Goa directing Goa Panchayat elections to be held within 45 days.

The High Court, on June 28, 2022 quashed the decision of the Goa government to postpone elections to 186 Village Panchayats. The court had further directed the state to issue a notification announcing the date of the panchayat elections within three days.

Taking note of the fact that the five year period of some Panchayats had expired and will expire in some panchayats, the court had directed the state government and the State Election Commission (SEC) to ensure that the elections are held and completed in “no later than 45 days”.

The high court, had asserted that Article 243-E(1) of the Constitution contemplates that every Panchayat shall continue for five years from the date appointed for its first meeting and no longer. The high court had further  took note of the fact that Article 243-E(3) provides that an election to constitute a Panchayat shall be completed before the expiry of its duration.

When the matter, came up for hearing before the Apex Court, Neeraj Kishan Kaul, Sr. Adv, appearing for the State submitted that Goa has always held election Panchayat elections on time. He argued that the state had postponed it owing to the monsoon. It was Kaul’s argument that the newly elected government is to present its first budget in July and if the code of conduct comes into effect, no announcements on projects can be made. Kaul submitted that the State’s human resources will be stretched if they depute people on election duty during the peak monsoon.

Kaul urged the court to record State’s undertaking that the elections will be conducted in the third week of September.

The court, on hearing his submissions, refused the entertain the plea. Court, observed that it finds no reason to interfere with the impugned order of the Bombay High Court. Court held that the order is in conformity with the requirements of the Constitution of India and with the decisions of this court.

The bench also took note of the fact that pursuant to the order of the High Court, the State has issued notification for election, thus it will not be appropriate to interfere at this stage.

Court granted liberty to the State Election Commission to approach the High Court in case of any difficulty.

Case title: State of Goa Vs Sandeep Vazarkar & Ors