In what could be termed as a setback to the government's efforts to conduct a draw of lots for the Panchayat Samiti chairmen in the
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Nagpur district for finalising reservations, two members have challenged the procedure in Nagpur bench of Bombay high court praying for a stay.
A division bench comprising justices Dilip Sinha and FM Reis on Friday issued show-cause notices to respondents including district collector and state rural development ministry directing them to file a reply before 10.30 am on Saturday as procedure of draw will start at 11 am. Anand Parchure and Purushottam Patle were counsels for the petitioners.
As per the petitioners, the district administration conducts draws to finalise reservation for panchayat samiti chiefs based on the rotation system. It is done according to Maharashtra Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti Rules 1962 for reserving posts for persons belonging to scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, other backward category (OBC) and women. Nagpur collector on November 18 announced to conduct this procedure for 13 posts of samiti chairmen on Saturday from 11 am at Bachat Bhavan of district collectorate.
The petitioners - Nanda Pohankar and Lata Bhange - both panchayat samiti members from Bhiwapur, claimed that on July 31, 2004 the post for chairmen of panchayat samiti for Bhiwapur was reserved for women from OBC. However, another member Sandhya Dhanvijay had challenged it on July 20, 2005 in the high court on which the court gave an interim order reserving the posts for SC/ST. As a result, Dhanvijay became chairperson of the samiti.
The government again came out with new draw of lots for reserving seats on rotation on July 30 this year where Bhiwapur was again reserved for SC. As per petitioners, they were sole candidates in that category from Bhiwapur, hence eligible for becoming samiti chairpersons. However, the collector issued a letter on November 18 calling for fresh draw of lots stating that July 30 draw was not as per the court's interim orders. Therefore, the petitioners are demanding a stay on this draw stating that July 30 draw should be preferred.