Govt gets two more days in appeal against Palike poll order

The State government on Monday sought two more days’ time to file office objections to the writ appeal filed by it in the High Court for quashing of the single-bench order which had directed it and the State Election Commission (SEC) to hold BBMP elections before
May 30.

A division bench of Chief Justice D H Waghela and Justice Ram Mohan Reddy granted time to the government and adjourned the next hearing until Wednesday.

Additional Advocate General A S Ponnanna sought time, saying many office objections copies were yet to be translated from Kannada into English and that fresh papers were needed to be prepared.

The division bench asked the government counsel why they were seeking more time when they wanted the bench to hear the matter urgently when it came up for hearing on Friday.
Rotation of seats

Advocate K N Phaneendra, representing the SEC, informed the court that the single bench had directed the government to publish the notification on rotation of seats meant for reserved category on or before April 13, 2015, besides directing the SEC to issue calender of events to conclude the entire electoral process by May 30.

To this, the bench remarked in a lighter vein: “If the SEC was trying to threaten the bench”.
The SEC counsel replied that he was just informing the bench because the date (April 13) should not come up as a surprise at the next hearing.