The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notice to the Karnataka State Election Commission on an appeal filed by disqualified elected members of the Karnataka municipality, challenging an order of the Karnataka High Court, which dismissed their pleas against the state Election Commission over disqualification for not sharing details of election expenditure.
The vacation bench of Justices MR Shah and Aniruddha Bose issued notice and listed the matter for June 15 for further hearing.
The Court was hearing the petition filed by the petitioners K Srinivas and others through advocate Parmatma Singh against the impugned order dated May 30 passed by the High Court of Karnataka at Bengaluru.
The petitioners had filed before the Karnataka High Court being aggrieved by an order dated November 15, 2021, passed by the respondent Karnataka State Election Commission under section 16C of the Karnataka Municipalities Act, 1964 thereby disqualifying the petitioners and 9 other councillors from Town Municipal Council, Anekal for a period of three years from the date of the order.
According to the petition, the said order records that even though notice has been issued by the Karnataka State Election Commission to the candidates, they have not submitted any explanation and details of election expenditure.
The respondent Karnataka State Election Commission passed the order disqualifying the petitioners without considering the response of the petitioners despite the same being on record, the petition said.
"It is settled law that granting of reasonable opportunity of being heard is an essential element of administrative decision making, particularly in cases where drastic consequences of disqualification of an elected representative ensue. In the present case, the order of disqualification of the petitioners for a period of 3 years was passed by the Karnataka State Election Commission without looking into their reply and affording a personal hearing," the petition said.
"The High Court failed to appreciate that the order dated November 15, 2021, was passed by the respondent Karnataka State Election Commission in gross violation of the principles of natural justice without looking into the replies dated June 17, 2020, sent by the petitioners giving details about the election expenditure along with reasons for a delay in submitting the same," the petition added.
( With inputs from ANI )
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