High Court notice to HP govt over PIL against extension of Shimla mayor, deputy mayor's tenure

Shimla, Nov 4 (PTI) The Himachal Pradesh High Court on Tuesday issued a notice to the state government over a public interest litigation challenging its decision to extend the tenure of Shimla mayor and deputy mayor from two-and-a-half years to five years.

A division bench of Chief Justice Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia and Justice Jiya Lal Bhardwaj sought a reply to the notice from the state government, the state election commission, the urban development department and Shimla Mayor Surinder Chauhan on November 11, when the matter comes up for the next hearing.

On October 25, the state cabinet, headed by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, extended the terms of the mayor and deputy mayor to five years.

Explaining the reasons behind the decision, a cabinet minister had said that the two-and-a-half-year term was raising apprehension of horse trading, while pointing out that the term in Panchayati Raj institutions was five years.

The decision benefited the Shimla Mayor Chauhan, whose term was to end on November 15. After that, the post was to be reserved for women according to the roster.

Advocate Anjali Soni Verma, who filed the PIL, argued that the extension of term violates the existing reservation roster, under which a Scheduled Caste woman councillor was slated to assume office for the next two-and-a-half years.

Pointing out that the Shimla Corporation has 21 women out of 34 councillors, the petitioner argued that the Cabinet's decision has deprived the women of their constitutional rights.

A recent general house meeting of the Shimla Municipal Corporation witnessed uproar after councillors expressed their resentment over the move, claiming that the ordinance to extend the mayor and deputy mayor's tenure was brought in haste, without consulting them.

BJP Councillors staged a protest, and even some Congress members of the House also expressed their unhappiness over the move to change the roster. PTI BPL NSD NSD