Uttarakhand High Court
Sm T . Shobha Joshi vs St At E Of Ut T Arakhand And Ot Hers on 16 January, 2025
2025:UHC:635
TH E H I GH COURT OF UTTARAKH AN D
AT N AI N I TAL
TH E H ON 'BLE SRI JUSTI CE ALOK KUM AR VERM A
1 6 t h JAN UARY, 2 0 2 5
SPECI AL APPEAL N O.7 OF 2 0 2 5
Sm t . Shobha Joshi .....Appellant
Versus
St at e of Ut t arakhand and Ot hers .....Respondent s
Counsel for t he Appellant : Mr. K.K. Tiwari,
Advocat e.
Counsel for t he Respondent : Mr. J.S. Bisht , St anding
Nos.1 t o 3 Counsel, Mr. Gaj endra
Tripat hi, St anding
Counsel and Mr. Naveen
Tiwari, Brief Holder.
Counsel for t he Respondent
No.4 : Mr. Sanj ay Bhat t ,
Advocat e.
H on'ble Alok Kum a r Ve rm a ,J.
This Special Appeal is preferred against t he
Order passed by t he learned Single Judge in Writ
Pet it ion ( M/ S) No.3627 of 2024 dat ed 10.01.2025,
whereby t he learned Single Judge has dism issed t he
I nt erim Relief Applicat ion of t he appellant / writ
pet it ioner.
2. Mr. K.K. Tiwari, learned counsel appearing for
t he appellant , has subm it t ed t hat t he appellant herein
1
2025:UHC:635
filed Writ Pet it ion ( M/ S) No.3627 of 2024 challenging
t he Not ificat ion No.1536/ I V( 3) / 2024- 11 ( 3fuokZ0) / 2024
dat ed 23.12.2024, issued by t he respondent no.2,
whereby t he post of Mayor, Nagar Nigam , Alm ora has
been reserved/ allot t ed for Ot her Backward Cast e
Cat egory. The pet it ioner sought a direct ion t o declare
t he post of Mayor, Nagar Nigam , Alm ora as General
( Wom en) .
3. Mr. K.K. Tiwari, Advocat e, has cont ended t hat
t he appellant is a perm anent resident of Dist rict
Alm ora. She want s t o cont est t he elect ion for t he post
of Mayor, Nagar Nigam , Alm ora. As per t he Municipal
Corporat ion ( Reservat ion and Allocat ion of Seat s and
Post s) Rules, 2024, t he crit eria for reserving t he seat is
populat ion. Rule 6( 3) ( kha) of t he said Rules, 2024
provides t hat where t here is a populat ion less t han t en
t housand t hen such cat egory shall be excluded from
reservat ion. The populat ion of OBC Cat egory in Nagar
Nigam , Alm ora is 2513, t he populat ion of t he
Scheduled Cast e Cat egory is 5575 and t he unreserved
populat ion is 30663 as per 2011 census. The Nagar
Nigam , Alm ora seat in t he t ent at ive list was kept
reserved for General Cat egory ( Wom en) , but , aft er
finalizing t he t ent at ive list , it has been reserved for
2
2025:UHC:635
OBC Cat egory wit hout any basis.
4. Mr. J.S. Bisht , learned St anding Counsel for
t he St at e, has opposed t he said subm issions.
5. The St at e Elect ion Com m ission has
announced t he elect ion schedule on 23.12.2024. The
Elect ion schedule is as follows: –
( i) Nom inat ion Dat e – 27.12.2024 to
30.12.2024.
( ii) Scrut iny of t he nom inat ion papers –
31.12.2024 t o 01.01.2025.
( iii) Dat e for Wit hdrawal of nom inat ion –
02.01.2025.
( iv) Allot m ent of Sym bols – 03.01.2025.
( v) Dat e of Vot ing – 23.01.2025.
( vi) Dat e of Count ing of Vot es – 25.01.2025.
6. Learned Single Judge, aft er considering
Art icles 243T, 243( 2) , 243( S) , 243( U) , 243( V) , 243ZA,
243ZG of t he Const it ut ion of I ndia and t he j udgm ent s
of t he Hon’ble Suprem e Court in ” Boddula Kr ishna ia h
a nd Anot he r vs. St a t e Ele ct ion Com m issione r , A.P.
a nd Ot he r s”, ( 1 9 9 6 ) 3 SCC 4 1 6 , “M ohinde r Singh
Gill vs. Chie f Ele ct ion Com m issione r “, 1 9 7 8 ( 1 )
3
2025:UHC:635
SCC 4 0 5 , “Ele ct ion Com m ission of I ndia Vs. Ashok
Kum a r “, ( 2 0 0 0 ) 8 SCC 2 1 6 , “Union Te r r it or y of
La da k h a nd Ot he r s Vs. Ja m m u Ka shm ir N a t iona l
Council”, 2 0 2 3 SCC OnLine SC 1 1 4 0 , “St a t e of Goa
Vs. Fouziya I m t ia z Sha ik h a nd Anot he r “, ( 2 0 2 1 ) 8
SCC 4 0 1 , “D r a vida M unne t r a Ka zha ga m ( D M K) vs.
Se cre t a r y, Gove r nor ‘s Se cr e t a r ia t “, ( 2 0 2 0 ) 6 SCC
5 4 8 a nd “Anugr a h N a r a in Singh & Ot he r s Vs.
St a t e Of U.P.”, 1 9 9 6 ( 6 ) SCC 3 0 3 , observed, in t he
bunch of t he writ pet it ions: –
” 4 9 . Since t he issue is only confined t o t he
im pugned not ificat ion dat ed 23.12.2024,
which pert ains t o t he allot m ent of seat s, but
what would be t he im pact of t he im pugned
not ificat ion t o t he Elect ion Not ificat ion t his
aspect cannot be overlooked. Therefore, at
t his j unct ure, if t his Court scrut inises t he
decision for det erm inat ion of allot m ent of
seat s, even for one const it uency, t hen it will
cert ainly affect t he ot her const it uencies. No
doubt , t he m andat e of Art icle 243( T) of t he
Const it ut ion of I ndia is t o follow t he rost er of
reservat ion and even if while det erm ining t he
allot m ent of seat s, t he rost er in respect of
som e of t he const it uencies have not been
followed which are disput ed by t he St at e as
well as by Elect ion Com m ission, any
int erference wit h t he im pugned not ificat ion
will cert ainly effect t he elect ion of ot her4
2025:UHC:635
const it uencies in respect of which t here is no
challenge t o t he allot m ent of seat . I n ot her
words dist urbing one seat cert ainly will affect
t he ot her const it uencies, t herefore, as a
whole, any int erference at t his j unct ure in
respect of t he im pugned not ificat ion will
am ount t o an int erference wit h t he elect ion
process at t his st age, part icularly when t he
elect ion has already been not ified.
6 0 . Therefore, due t o lack of pleadings at
t his j unct ure, t his Court is keeping all t hese
pet it ions pending and invit ing count er
affidavit from t he St at e as well as from t he
St at e Elect ion Com m ission t o exam ine t he
validit y of im pugned not ificat ion by fram ing
an issue ” what would be t he im pact of
im pugned not ificat ion if t he elect ions are
concluded, aft er declaring t he result of t he
ret urned candidat e and whet her t he non-
com pliance of Const it ut ional provision as well
as non- com pliance wit h t he provisions of
Municipalit y Act and t he Municipal
Corporat ion Act as well as Rules of 2024 can
be a subj ect m at t er of elect ion pet it ion or
not ,” and t his issue will be decided lat er on
but t hat t oo aft er t he elect ion are over,
ot herwise any int erference at t his st age
am ount s t o an int erference wit h t he on going
elect ions, which is against t he m andat e of
set t led principle of law.”
7. I n t he fact s and circum st ances of t he case, I
5
2025:UHC:635
am of t he considered view t hat t he learned Single
Judge has not erred in passing t he im pugned order. I
do not find any perversit y and infirm it y in t he
im pugned order warrant ing int erference. This Court
does not find any m erit in t he present appeal. Special
Appeal is liable t o be dism issed at t he adm ission st age.
8. I n t he result , t he Special Appeal is dism issed.
___________________
ALOK KUM AR VERM A, J.
Va ca t ion Judge
Dat e: 16.01.2025
Pant /
PANKAJ Digitally signed by PANKAJ KUMAR PANT
DN: c=IN, o=HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND, ou=HIGH COURT OF
UTTARAKHAND,
2.5.4.20=9bb5448b4a92c65bab85a1384e98c8e23962296e78d4821a6ec01b40
8aa193c8, postalCode=263001, st=UTTARAKHAND,
KUMAR PANT serialNumber=4FA443614ABEBC1A2C417A645E31B2B4B9D897811D160D334
C31AA4BA6D48D32, cn=PANKAJ KUMAR PANT
Date: 2025.01.16 19:23:34 +05’30’
6