JUDGEMENT
H.W.DHABE -
(1.)These two Writ Petitions involve common questions of fact and law and can, therefore, be conveniently disposed of by this common judgment. The petitioners in Writ Petition No. 2162 of 1985 are mainly the Communist Party of India and two individuals who are elected members of the Gram Panchayat in Nagpur District. The petitioner No. 1 in Writ Petition No. 2210 of 1985 is an organisation known as Adivasi Arakshan Saurakshan Samiti which is formed with the object of promoting and protecting the rights and interests of the Scheduled Tribes in general and in particular for the purpose of taking action in the matter of providing reservation to the Scheduled Tribes persons in the ensuing elections of the Zilla Parishads and the Panchayat Samitis. The petitioners 2 to 10 in the aforesaid writ petition are qualified to vote and to be elected in the ensuing Zilla Parishad elections.
(2.)Two questions arise for consideration in the instant writ petitions. The first question raised on behalf of the petitioners in these writ petitions is that the definition of the expression population which is newly substituted as Clause 20-A, in section 2 of the Maharashtra Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis Act, 1961 (for short, "the Act"), by the Dissolution of Osmanabad and Parbhani Zilla Parishads and Temporary Postponement of Elections and the Maharashtra Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis (Amendment) Act, 1985 (hereinafter referred to as "the Maharashtra Act No. 12 of 1985"), is arbitrary and discriminatory and is violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India, and is therefore liable to be struck down. The second question raised on behalf of the petitioners in the instant writ petitions and in particular in Writ Petition No. 2210 of 1985 filed by Adivasai Arakshan Saurakshan Samiti is that even assuming that the definition of the expression population as substituted by the Maharashtra Act No. 12 of 1985 is valid, the population figures as ascertained in 1971 would mean the population figures of the original census of 1971 as modified by section 5(2) and as published under section 5(3) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Order (Amendment) Act, 1976 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act No. 108 of 1976") and, therefore, the reservation of seats for the Scheduled Tribes in the elections to the Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis under the Act has to be made on the basis of the said population figures.
(3.)To appreciate the above contentions raised on behalf of the petitioners, it is first necessary to refer to and understand and the scheme of some of the relevant provisions of the Act and the Rules framed thereunder relating to the elections to the Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis under the Act. Section 6 of the Act provides for establishment of a Zilla Parishad for every district consisting of a President and Councillors. Section 9(1) of the Act provides for composition of the Zilla Parishad which, inter alia, consists of elected Councillors as provided in its clause (a) elected by direct election from electoral divisions of the districts being not more than 60 in number and not less than 40 as may, by notification in the Official Gazette, be determined by the State Government so however, that there is one Councillor as far as is reasonably practicable for not more than every forty thousand of the population. The other clauses of section 9(1) provide for co-opted and ex-officio members in the composition of the Zilla Parishad, with which we are not concerned in the instant writ petitions.
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