SC to hear delimitation row on TN Legislative Council

SC to hear delimitation row on TN Legislative Council

The Supreme Court has decided to hear the constitutional validity of the Presidential notification for delimitation of Legislative Council constituencies in Tamil Nadu and asked the Centre, the state govt and the Election Comm to file their responses.

A bench of Justices J M Panchal and H L Gokhale on Monday also made it clear that any step taken by the state government on the delimitation would be subject to the final outcome of the petition.

"It is clarified that any step taken by the government shall be subject to the final outcome of the petition," the court said on Monday.

The court passed the order on petitions filed by Bhartiya Janta Party and one M Bharathiar, challenging the Madras High Court order which had refused to interfere in the notification saying it was legal and valid.

Challenging the High Court's order, BJP pleaded that the Presidential order was unconstitutional, null and void and it was in contravention of the Representation of the Peoples' (RP) Act.

"The Delimitation Order contravened the Representation of the Peoples' (RP) Act. The same was ineffective as it had been issued without prior approval of Parliament," senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the petitioner, said.

The Madras High Court had held that the Presidential order had been made under Section 3(3) of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Council (TNLC) Act which did not provide for placing the order before Parliament.

The Presidential notification was issued on 30^th September last for the proposed Legislative Council elections.