HC to hear petition seeking Prez rule in UP over panchayat

The Allahabad High Court today fixed October 28 as the next date of hearing on a petition seeking President's rule in Uttar Pradesh for postponement of panchayat election.
A division bench of justice Dinesh Maheshwari and justice Anant Kumar of HC's Lucknow bench gave the order on a Public Interest Litigation filed by five persons.
The petitioners had claimed that the state government had failed to carry out its constitutional duty as it had stayed the gram panchayat elections in violation of Article 243E of the Constitution.
They had said that the election should have been held before the expiry of the term on November 6, 2015.

The petitioners had alleged that as the UP government had failed to perform its constitutional obligations, the central government should consider invoking the President's rule in the state under Article 356 of the Constitution.
As per earlier order of the court, the replies of the central and state governments and the state election commission (SEC) could not be filed in this matter on Thursday.

On September 30, the court had directed the respondents to file their replies by October 15.
It had also issued notice to the Advocate General to place the state's response on some legal provisions.
The petitioner had also sought directions for striking down some provisions related to panchayat laws whose constitutional validity has been challenged.

Opposing the PIL, the state government's counsel had contended that the process of conducting the panchayat poll was on and it was fully in accordance with legal provisions.
According to petitioners' counsel H S Jain, the replies of three respondents could not be filed and their counsel sought further time for the same, which was allowed by the court, while fixing October 28 as the next date of hearing the PIL.