Plea in SC seeks ST seats in UP House
Krishnadas Rajagopal Posted online: Wed Jan 04 2012, 01:01 hrs
New Delhi : A petition challenging the zero representation of
Scheduled Tribes in the UP Legislative Assembly on Tuesday left the
Supreme Court in a "delicate position" as regards the fate of the
fast-approaching state polls.
The writ petition filed by Virendra Pratap, a Gond Mahasabha member,
said the total lack of representation for STs in the UP Assembly was
in violation of a 2003 parliamentary enactment for "proportional
representation" in all legislative assemblies.
With the elections scheduled from February 4 to 28, the Bench of
Justices Altamas Kabir and S S Nijjar said any order passed by the
court at this point would disturb the poll schedules. "We are in a
delicate position here," the Bench observed.
Even turning to the Centre, represented by Attorney General GE
Vahanvati, for advice did not help, as he said the government cannot
be expected to go against the legislative intent of the 2003 law,
which calls for "proportional representation" of STs in assemblies.
The 2003 law saw 10 communities, earlier in the Scheduled Caste
category, shifted to the STs' list. With this, the law took the tally
of ST communities from five to 15 in UP. The development saw the ST
population in UP rise to 6.65 lakh from about 1 lakh.
"This means that a 0.4 per cent of the population (16.67 crore) is ST,
and this would translate to two of a total 403 seats in the UP
Assembly," advocate PS Narasimha, appearing for Pratap, submitted. He
argued how the Delimitation Commission, in a December 2005 order,
disregarded the increased presence of STs in the state.
The Commission, Narasimha submitted, had explained its action saying
their findings were based on the 2001 Census figures — when the 10
communities were still identified as Scheduled Castes.
The court asked what was Pratap doing for the past six years since the
Delimitation Commission's order in 2005. "If my mathematics is
correct, you have been asleep for six whole years. So why is it that
you have come now... You want to stall the elections?" Justice Kabir
asked.
The next hearing in the case is on January 9. The UP government has
also been made a party.
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