Hold panchayat polls within 3 months in Telangana, directs HC
HYDERABAD: Telangana high court Wednesday directed the state election commission (SEC) to conduct panchayat polls in the state within three months.
Justice T Madhavi Devi also directed the state govt to provide the list of voters to the SEC duly classified into SC, ST, BC, General etc.,
categories along with the particulars of modified wards in line with the delimitation exercise within one month from now.
The state govt also has to complete the process of reservation of seats for sarpanches and ward members.
You Can Also Check:
Hyderabad AQI
|
Weather in Hyderabad
|
Bank Holidays in Hyderabad
|
Public Holidays in Hyderabad
The judge pronounced the order after hearing a batch of petitions filed by sarpanches of various panchayats seeking timely elections. The term of the sarpanches was over on Jan 31, 2024.
Petitioners' counsel Gummalla Bhaskar Reddy told the court that though the state was under a constitutional obligation to conduct polls within six months, it had not done so.
He also pointed out that this delay was violative of Articles 243E and 243K of the Constitution, besides being contrary to the provisions of the Telangana Panchayat Raj Act, 2018.
Responding to the delay, additional advocate general Mohammed Imran Khan submitted that the process of identifying political backwardness of BCs had taken time and the govt was now ready with the data. As per the order of the Supreme Court, the triple test conditions are required to be complied with by the state before reserving seats in local bodies for OBCs, he said.
by Taboola
by Taboola
Sponsored Links
Sponsored Links
Promoted Links
Promoted Links
You May Like
5 Books Warren Buffett Wants You to Read In 2025
Blinkist: Warren Buffett's Reading List
Undo
"The state govt appointed a one-man commission which has since submitted its report. That is the reason why elections could not be conducted before the completion of the tenure of the gram panchayats," he said.
The SEC advocate, senior counsel G Vidya Sagar, said the poll body was ready to conduct the election at the earliest and was waiting for concurrence from the state govt to issue notification.
The judge in her order said: "The delay in conduct of elections is more than 14 months. Without going into the merits as to whether the delay is justified or otherwise, this court deems it fit and proper to direct the respondents to complete the election process on or before Sept 30."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
13 minutes ago
- Time of India
SC issues guidelines for retention, disposal of records
The Supreme Court of India has introduced new guidelines, effective 2025, for managing administrative records to enhance accountability and efficiency. Chief Justice Gavai highlighted the need to address inconsistencies in record management across different branches. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads The Supreme Court on Thursday issued guidelines for retention and disposal of documents to create accountability and efficiency across all registry top court highlighted a lacuna over the management of administrative a message, Chief Justice of India B R Gavai said over the years, the registry of the Supreme Court has witnessed a significant increase in the volume and diversity of administrative records generated across multiple branches."While judicial records pertaining to case proceedings are governed by explicit provisions contained in Order LVI of the Supreme Court Rules, 2013, and further elaborated in Chapter XXI of the Handbook on Practice and Office Procedure of the Supreme Court of India, 2017, a lacuna has persisted with respect to the management of administrative records," he CJI continued, "This disparity leads to inconsistent practices across branches, affecting archival clarity and efficiency. The 'Guidelines for Retention and Destruction of Records 2025' aim to remedy this by promoting coherence, accountability, and efficiency in managing administrative records, including institutional decisions, policy implementations, inter-departmental correspondences, audits, and engagements with external stakeholders."CJI Gavai underscored the importance of properly managing these records for transparency and accountability and guidelines to establish a rational framework."Operational efficiency is enhanced by the systematic elimination of obsolete documents, easing storage burdens and improving record retrieval speed. The Guidelines ensure compliance with audit and statutory obligations by defining appropriate retention periods based on fiscal, legal, an administrative relevance. They are aligned with national public record management standards."The guidelines were stated to have borne out of detailed consultations among registrars and officials of the registry."I place on record my sincere appreciation for the efforts of Pradip Y. Ladekar, Registrar at the Supreme Court, who played the instrumental role in drafting these Guidelines. He was ably supported by his staff members throughout the process. I also appreciate Bharat Parashar, Secretary General, and S C Munghate, Officer on Special Duty (in the rank of Secretary General), for their leadership and guidance in steering the Registry through this important initiative," he to the issued guidelines, original submission notes or paper books bearing signatures of the chief justice of India and judges of the Supreme Court to be preserved policy files, office orders and circular files were to be preserved permanently."The retention period of the records shall start after the final action or disposal of arbitration, litigation, enquiry or audit as the case may be. All the branches concerned, before destroying files/cases/records will ensure that no court case is pending in respect of the subject matter of the files/cases/records being destroyed/ weeded out," it case the records of one branch or wing were co-related with those a different branch or records relating to the confidential branch, an intimation on "the pendency of court case is to be sent to them as soon as the court case is received in the section".Destruction and retention of records by the relevant branches should be carried out after due approval from the registrar concerned, it added."The exercise of destruction of record normally be carried out during summer vacation/partial court working days. In case a scanned copy of documents/records is to be preserved beyond the retention period for the reasons to be recorded in writing decision may be taken by the concerned Registrar at the time of destruction of the record(s)," the guidelines added, "Financial and budget-related documents and files should be maintained separately for each financial year with effect from April 1 to March 31. All other records, registers may be maintained separately for each calendar year, i.e., January 1 to December 31."
Time of India
14 minutes ago
- Time of India
States to spend Rs 1 lakh cr on pre-poll sops to women in FY26: Report
Top 18 states will spend Rs 1 lakh crore on pre-poll sops to women this fiscal, Crisil Ratings said on Thursday. States' spending on social sector schemes will be at an elevated 2 per cent of GSDP (Gross State Domestic Product) in FY26 and is likely to impact capital expenditure, it added. The social sector spends used to be in the range of 1.4-1.6 per cent of GSDP between fiscals 2019 and 2024, and climbed up to 2 per cent last fiscal, the rating agency said. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like New Container Houses Vietnam (Prices May Surprise You) Container House | Search ads Search Now "This fiscal (FY26), the elevated spending will result in high revenue deficit, thereby limiting the flexibility of the states to undertake higher capital outlays," the agency said. The analysis includes 18 top states accounting for over 90 per cent of aggregate GSDP of all states, and added that social sector spends includes revenue expenditure for welfare of backward classes, women, children and labour, as well as assistance to certain demographics in the form of social security pensions. Live Events Its senior director Anuj Sethi said the overall expenditure across states will come at Rs 2.3 lakh crore, and of this, Rs 1 lakh crore is towards direct benefit transfers (DBT) to women primarily as "election commitments". It may be recalled that concerns were raised about the impact of the pre-poll sops to women, and with the electoral success of such schemes, a larger number of governments were feared to announce similar measures. Crisil said such tendencies will make this a key monitorable factor going ahead. "Over the past few years, several key states that have gone to the polls have introduced or increased allocations to DBT schemes. With upcoming elections in...(some) states, a rise in DBT, as part of election commitments, is possible and remains a key monitorable," it said. The agency said the increase in social welfare expenses over FY25 and FY26 is not estimated to be uniform across the states, with half of the analysed states expected to see a significant surge in these expenses, while the remaining are likely to see these spending at relatively stable levels or see a modest increase. While the social welfare expenses are inching up significantly, there is a wide gap between the rise in revenue expenditure and revenue receipts for the states over the two fiscal, it added. The overall revenue expenditure is budgeted to log a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13-14 per cent between fiscals 2025 and 2026, while revenue receipts grew a slower 6.6 per cent year-on-year (YoY) last fiscal and are expected to increase 6-8 per cent YoY this fiscal. Its director Aditya Jhaver explained that a rise in revenue deficit normally results in state governments reducing capital outlay to maintain their fiscal stability. Last fiscal, capital outlay grew a meagre 6 per cent on-year (as against a CAGR of 11 per cent over 5 years ended fiscal 2024) as revenue deficit ballooned almost 90 per cent on-year, he said. "If this trend continues this fiscal, it could constrain states' capital outlay, which has a higher multiplier effect and can stimulate increased investment in the economy," Jhaver said.
Time of India
14 minutes ago
- Time of India
Hindi friend of all Indian languages; there should be no opposition to any foreign language: Amit Shah
Union Home minister Amit Shah on Thursday said Hindi is not opposed to any Indian language, rather it is friends with all Indian languages and there should be no opposition to any foreign language in the country. Addressing the golden jubilee celebrations of the Central government's official language department , Shah also asked all the state governments to take the initiative to impart medical and engineering education in the local language. The Centre will help all the state governments in using Indian languages to conduct administrative works, he said. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like We Can't Believe She Wore That To The Red Carpet Golfhooked Read More "I sincerely believe that Hindi can't be opposed ('virodhi') to any Indian language. Hindi is a friend ('sakhi') of all Indian languages," the home minister said. Hindi and other Indian languages together can take the self-esteem of the country's culture to its final destination, Shah said. Live Events The home minister also said that everyone should get rid of the slavery mentality and until a person takes pride in his own language, or does not express himself in his language, that person cannot be free from the mentality of slavery. "There is no opposition to any language. There should not be any opposition to any foreign language. But there should be an urge to glorify one's own language, there should be an urge to speak one's own language, there should be an urge to think in one's own language," he said. Shah also said that as far as the country is concerned, language is not just a medium of communication, it is the soul of a nation. "It is important to keep Indian languages alive and enrich them. We should make all efforts in the coming days for all Indian languages, especially for the official language," Shah said. Extending greetings to all the well wishes of the official language Hindi, the home minister congratulated the admirers of Indian languages across the country on the golden jubilee year of the department. Shah said this was the 50-year journey from 1975 to 2025 of the official language department and when India will celebrate the centenary of its Independence, the name of the official language will be inscribed in golden letters in the history of all the efforts made for the reawakening of India's pride.
