SC grants ''status quo'' in connection with delimitation of wards

The Supreme Court today has granted a ''status quo'' in connection with the final draft published regarding delimitation of wards of Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), till the next order.

The hearing on the special leave petition (SPL) filed by Sameer Rajurkar and others was held in the Apex Court comprising Chief Justice Sharad Bobade, Justice A S Bopanna and Justice V Ramasubramaniam. The Court, after the hearing, gave the above verdict and also ordered serving of notices to the respondents - the state government, State Election Commissioner (SEC) and the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC).

As reported earlier, the AMC received a large number of objections on the rough draft notification of delimitation of wards (newly formed). Taking cognizance of which, the SEC constituted a committee headed by sugar commissioner Saurabh Rao. The committee conducted the hearing on all the objections. Later on, the SEC published the final draft notification of the delimitation of wards and schedule of reservation of wards in February 2020.

The SEC''s order was then challenged by alert citizens Sameer Rajurkar, Anil Vidhate, Kishore Tulsibaughwale, Nandu Gaoli and Dikshit through a petition in the Aurangabad Bench of Bombay High Court. However, the bench rejected the petition. As a result, the petitioners filed an SPL in the Supreme Court.

The petitioners underlined several irregularities including severe violation of confidentiality which was supposed to be maintained during the process of the delimitation of wards. Besides, the political leaders delimited the wards as per their convenience. The municipal corporation authorities did not implement the parameters set by the SEC. Hence the formation of new boundaries of new wards is illegal. Moreover, the SEC published the final draft, although there was no action taken by the competent officer, who had conducted the hearing on objections.

The senior advocate D S Kamat, Adv D P Palodkar and Adv Shashibhushan Adgaonkar pleaded on behalf of the petitioners in the Apex Court.