HC stays govt order on civic elections in Hyderabad

The Hyderabad High Court today stayed a government order (GO) curtailing the time between filing of nomination papers and withdrawal for Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation.
A bench of acting Chief Justice D B Bhosale and Justice S V Bhatt observed that the government had issued a GO to comply with the earlierdirection of the High Court that the civic elections must be held before January 31, 2016.
However, the GO was contrary to the section 101 of Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, it said.
Once GHMC Act (in existence before bifurcation of AP) has been adopted under section 101, the government cannot issue executive order amending it, for that it will have to go through the legislature, the court said.

The government must follow the unamended section 33 of GHMC Act, it said.
Telangana Advocate General Ramakrishna Reddy stated that the government was ready to issue the notification making the reservation of wards for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, women, etc., beforeSaturday.

The State Election Commission's counsel said that within 31 days of notification, the Commission would complete the process of election.
The bench accepted both these statements. It asked the government to complete the process of reservation of wards beforeSaturday; the State Election Commissioner should complete the elections within 31 days of notification on reserved wards, it directed.
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Meanwhile, Chief Minister K Chandradrasekhar Rao said in a statement here this evening that the government would conduct the civic elections as per the High Court's directive.
The government had sought to conduct the elections in a short span to avoid inconvenience to the people, he said.
The government felt that the people would face inconvenience as about one lakh employees would be deputed for election work, he said.
Hailing the High Court verdict, Uttam Kumar Reddy, who heads state Congress unit, said it was a "slap" on the face of the TRS government.
At least one week's time should be given for filing nominations after announcing reserved wards, he said.

Welcoming the court verdict, Telangana BJP president G Kishan Reddy demanded that the election schedule should be announced eight days after declaration of reservations.