Not enough seats reserved for STs in LB polls: Plea

The first bench, comprising of Acting Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice PD Audikesavalu, passed the direction on hearing the plea by AC Sathiyamoorthy, State secretary for the party.

The petitioner prayed for direction from the court to quash a government order dated January 17 issued by the rural development department.

“There are about 21 corporations in the State. While only three mayor positions were reserved for SCs, none had been earmarked for ST candidates. Also, there are 138 municipality chairman seats in Tamil Nadu. But only one position has been reserved for STs. When it comes to town panchayat chairman seats, 85 out of 490 are reserved for the SCs. Shockingly, only three seats are allotted for the STs,” the petitioner said in his affidavit.

He further said the GO is against the 73rd Constitution Amendment Act, 1992, as it was introduced to empower the SCs and STs.

“While the reservation was announced for the urban local body polls during the AIADMK regime, the DMK had approached the court for not reserving adequate seats for the STs. However, the DMK is in the power now. They ought to have, morally, given at least one seat to the STs in the councillor elections of the Chennai Corporation,” he noted. On hearing the submissions, the bench posted the matter to February 3.