Officer in charge of delimitation told to be present in court

The Madras High Court has directed the officer concerned in charge of delimitation of municipal wards in Chennai Corporation to be present before it on August 24 with records to assist it in ascertaining how the number of seats reserved for SC were kept as it is since 2001 despite increase in wards.
The first bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice R Mahadevan, gave the order on a PIL by one Y A Nathan, ex-councillor of Kolathur, Chennai, who sought a direction to quash the June 3 order of the Corporation Commissioner which has not increased wards after delimitation.

"The concerned officer will remain present to assist the Court with records in the above regard," the court said.
The petitioner submitted that the total population of the SCs in Corporation limit was 5,98,110 out of the eligible 43,43,645 voters as of 2001, when there were only 155 wards.
He also submitted that the territorial jurisdiction of the Corporation was expanded in 2011 and the number of wards increased from 155 to 200. Therefore, the number of reserved seats ought to have been increased proportionately but only 26 seats had been 'disproportionately' reserved.
He further alleged that the SC population was more in the newly-added areas, but the authorities, without taking note of it, continued to allot only 26 seats to SC as it was before delimitation when the wards were only 155.

Hence he sought to quash the June 3 order which has not increased reservation of wards to Scheduled Caste.