In a jolt to Haryana government, the Supreme Court today stayed the operation of recent changes in state election laws that have made certain educational qualifications compulsory for contesting Panchayat polls.
A bench of justices J Chelameswar and A M Sapre passed the interim order when it was mentioned before the court, with the petitioner saying that the Haryana Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Act, 2015 had discriminatory provisions that restrain persons from contesting elections on the ground of educational qualifications.
The amended law fixes matriculation as essential qualification for general candidates contesting the panchayat elections, while the qualification for women (general) and Scheduled Caste candidates has been fixed at Class VIII.
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However, in case of a woman candidate belonging to SC category contesting election for the post of Panch, the minimum qualification would be Class V pass, the law says.
The amended law was passed on the concluding day of the monsoon session of Haryana Assembly this September.
Besides Haryana, Rajasthan has also recently fixed the minimum educational qualification for elections to the Panchayati Raj institutions.
The court, after the brief hearing, stayed the provisions prescribing minimum educational qualifications for panchayat polls contestants and sought a response from the state government within four weeks.
The lawyer for the petitioner said that 83 per cent of Dalit women and 71 per cent women in general and 56 percent males would be excluded from contesting the panchayat polls by this law, which affected fundamental rights of the candidates.
