Mumbai: After the Supreme Court upheld the Bombay High Court order that under the Maharashtra Municipal Corporation Act, a candidate will be disqualified for failing to submit a valid caste certificate, the State Cabinet on Tuesday increased the time to submit the certificate from six months to one year.
The decision will help 20 corporators from Kolhapur Municipal Corporation, 8 from Latur corporation, and 7 from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. The seven are Kesharben Patel, Murji Patel, Pankaj Yadav, Sudha Singh from the BJP and Rajpati Yadav, Steffi Morris, Tulip Miranda from the Congress.
In Maharashtra, over 10,000 corporators get elected to local bodies from the scheduled caste, scheduled tribe, and OBC categories. As per the previous arrangement, each winner has to submit the valid caste certificate to the caste scrutiny committee within six months of being elected. The State on Tuesday raised the time limit by six more months. The decision will be effective April 7, 2015, for the municipal corporatons and councils.
“There have been numerous cases pending with the caste scrutiny committees. Even a few days’ delay after six months results in disqualification. Tuesday’s decision is to ensure that the representatives on reserved seats do not face injustice,” a government statement said.
The decision will also be applicable to the zilla parishads, panchayat samitis (from May 7, 2016), and the gram panchayats (from March 31, 2016).
“This is not the first time that such a decision has been taken. This will not only help the BJP and Shiv Sena corporators, but even those from the Opposition. The move will ensure civic bodies do not face mid-term elections,” Water Conservation Minister Ram Shinde told reporters after the Cabinet meeting.