Hearing on ward formation in Aurangabad after Christmas holidays

Aurangabad, Dec 17:

The petition for the formation of wards for the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) election was heard in the Supreme Court on Friday in front of the Bench comprising of Chief Justice NV Ramana and Justice Surya Kant and Justice Hima Kohli. The State Election Commission also made their statement. A hearing will be held after the Christmas holidays for the next decision. The petition is likely to be heard early January.

The term of general election of AMC has ended in March 2020. However, the election was postponed on the backdrop of corona and an administrator was appointed on the AMC. Aurangabad used to have a one-member ward structure. However, the state government removed the ordinance and created a multi-member ward. The whole process of ward formation and reservation needs to be done anew. Therefore, the election commission had requested the court to dismiss the petition. Petitioner Sameer Rajurkar requested that the petitioner has no objection to the formation of new ward and reservation process.

However, legal provisions and privacy orders have been violated in the process. Therefore, without dismissing the petition, the State Election Commission should be instructed to strictly abide by the legal provisions and rules during the process of new ward formation and reservation. Following the hearing, the apex court adjourned the hearing of the petition and clarified that the next hearing would be held after the Christmas holidays. Adv Ajit Kadethankar represented the election commission, adv Devdutta Palodkar and adv Shashibhushan Adgaonkar represented petitioner Rajurkar.