HC asks Dispur for municipal poll plan

Guwahati

Opposition members protest the dissolution of the GMC council. A file picture May 12 : Gauhati High Court has directed Dispur to submit before it its plans to hold the municipal elections here. The court issued the directive after hearing a petition filed by former councillor of Guwahati Municipal Corporation, Prabhat Das, seeking its intervention for holding municipal elections without further delay. Das today said the order was passed by a single-judge bench of Justice A. Hazarika last Friday. The court has sought the reply by May 20. The petitioner said he was left with no option other than seek the court’s intervention as the state government apparently was in no mood to hold the civic polls as per the provisions laid down in the GMC Act. “The government has already delayed the municipal poll as a result of which I appealed to the court to issue the necessary directive to the state government to hold the election to the corporation without any further delay,” he said. Das said a constitutional provision clearly stated that elections to municipalities should be held before the expiry of six months from the date of dissolution of the general council. “Since the state government had dissolved the elected council of the GMC on May 24 last year, it should have held a fresh election by November 25. But we are surprised to see that the government is yet to take any step to hold the poll,” he said. The state government had dissolved the general council of the corporation under Section 425 (1) of the GMC Act, 1971 (amended) through an official order dated May 26, 2008. Das, who was an AGP councillor, accused the Congress government of deliberately delaying the municipal polls by showing scant regard for constitutional and legal provisions, fearing defeat in the hands of the Opposition. He also claimed that development had taken a backseat in the city because of the absence of elected representatives in the corporation. “I had to move court as nobody in the GMC or the government could say when the election would be held or state the reason for the delay,” he said. Das cited a Supreme Court ruling in October, 2006, which stated that no reason other than man-made or natural calamities was tenable for not holding civic polls on time.