A division bench of Justice A A Sayed and Justice Abhay Ahuja directed the Maharashtra government, Election Commission and the BMC to file affidavits in reply by December 21 to a plea by two BJP councillors challenging the November 30 decision. (File) The Bombay High Court on Thursday refused to order an immediate interim stay on the November 30 Maharashtra government ordinance that notified the increase of nine seats in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
A division bench of Justice A A Sayed and Justice Abhay Ahuja directed the Maharashtra government, Election Commission and BMC to file affidavits by December 21 in reply to a plea by two BJP councillors of the BMC challenging the November 30 decision.
The state urban development department had issued the notification increasing the number of seats from 227 to 236 after the proposal was cleared by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari.
Senior counsel Milind Sathe, representing BJP councillors Abhijit Samant and Rajeshree Shirwadkar, said the ordinance is arbitrary, illegal, unjust and contrary to the constitutional mandate and provisions of the Maharashtra Municipal Corporation (MMC) Act. They added that the number of municipal councillors has been increased without there being any “quantifiable data or latest census population data available”.
It further said that the ordinance is based on the 2011 Census figures. As these figures are more than 10 years old, amending the MMC Act on the basis of population data of 2011 is illegal, it added.
Besides requesting the court to quash and set aside the November 30 ordinance, the petitioners also sought a stay on its implementation pending hearing.
BJP MLA Ameet Satam has also filed a plea against the state government’s decision.
The court refused to grant an immediate interim stay on the November 30 decision and issued notice to Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni to explain the state’s position during the next hearing on December 22.
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