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The Himachal Pradesh High Court has quashed the recent amendment to the State Panchayati Raj (Election) Rules, 1994, and ordered fresh delimitation of wards for the Shimla Zila Parishad, holding that the changes were arbitrary and violated constitutional provisions regarding equal representation.
A Division Bench of Justices Vivek Singh Thakur and Romesh Verma on Friday struck down the amended Rule 9(2), noting that the modification, which replaced the Gram Sabha area with the Panchayat Samiti area as the unit of delimitation, created vast disparities in population among wards. The court observed that the amended delimitation orders resulted in constituencies ranging from around 6,300 population in Dodra Kawar to more than 37,000 in Kotkhai, causing an imbalance and infringing upon the principle of fair representation mandated under Article 243C of the Constitution. The Bench held that the amendment prioritised administrative convenience over constitutional compliance and had not been laid before the State Legislature as required under Section 214 of the Himachal Pradesh Panchayati Raj Act, making it unenforceable. The ruling came on a petition filed by Devinder Singh Negi, who challenged the delimitation of territorial constituencies for the Shimla Zila Parishad. The court also set aside the Divisional Commissioner's order upholding the delimitation. Rejecting the State's contention that judicial review was barred in matters relating to delimitation once the election process had begun, the Bench said courts could intervene where constitutional mandates and statutory provisions were violated. The verdict is likely to impact the upcoming Panchayat elections in the state, as the government may now be required to revise and reissue the delimitation notifications in accordance with the earlier rule based on the Gram Sabha population. (ANI)
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