R Sedhuraman
Legal Correspondent
New Delhi, December 10
The Supreme Court on Thursday
dismissed a PIL challenging the validity of Haryana's new law, mandating
educational and other norms for candidates contesting Panchayat elections.
A Bench comprising Justices J.
Chelameswar and A.M. Sapre held that the recent amendment to the Haryana
Panchayati Raj Act for the purpose was valid.
The amendment had been challenged by
Rajbala and two others rendered ineligible by the new law to contest the
elections.
Arguing for Haryana, Attorney
General Mukul Rohatgi had pleaded that SC had upheld even the two-child norm
for contesting Panchayat election (in the Javed versus Haryana case) despite
the fact that having three or more children had nothing to do with the ability
of the elected representatives to discharge their duties.
On the other hand, the education
norms prescribed under the new law had a direct bearing on the efficient
functioning of village bodies, Rohatgi said.
He pleaded that a little bit of
schooling would be of great help for the elected representatives to understand
the nuances of village administration covering a wide range of activities –
imposition and collection of taxes, development of agriculture, cottage
industries, fisheries, irrigation and forests, and laying of roads and creation
of other infrastructure.
The other norms – functional toilet
at home and prompt payment of electricity bills and instalments of loans taken
from cooperative banks – would ensure the election of disciplined candidates to
Panchayats and thereby improve their efficiency and spur rural growth, Rohatgi
said.
The
petitioners had contended that the norms were exclusionary and discriminatory
and these would mainly affect the weaker sections.
