HC refuses stay on GTA poll results

The Calcutta High Court on Friday refused to pass any interim stay on the declaration of results of Gorkhaland Territorial Authority (GTA) election and oath taking of the elected members.

Justice Dipankar Gupta refused to pass an interim order on a plea by All India Gorkha League (AIGL) and directed that the parties in the case would abide by the final outcome of the case.

The AIGL had moved the petition earlier this month seeking a stay on the GTA election and its counsel Bikash Bhattacharya on Friday prayed for an interim stay order.

Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) President Subash Ghisingh's counsel Arunabha Ghosh submitted that as the matter involved the future of lakhs of Darjeeling residents, it be taken up at the earliest.

 

Justice Gupta directed that the matter would come up for hearing on August 10.

Oath-taking of elected members of the first GTA, which replaces the earlier Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, is scheduled on August four. Ghisingh had on June 14 filed a petition in the Calcutta High Court challenging the GTA Act 2011 claiming that it was ultra vires to the Constitution.