The High Court has said that though the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution was a step towards self-governance at the grassroots level, equal rights insofar as participation of women at the said level had not come about.
Justice M Nagaprasanna said this in a recent order while dismissing a petition filed by a scheduled caste (SC) male member of a panchayat challenging the appointment of an SC woman member as the president of Konaje gram panchayat in Mangaluru taluk of Dakshina Kannada district.
The petitioners, elected members of Konaje gram panchayat, contended that the post of adhyaksha (president) should have gone to the male members. The elections were held in 2020 and the Karnataka State Election Commission had prescribed guidelines in the matter of reservation of office of president and vice-president in favour of SC/ST, Backward Class ‘A’, Backward Class ‘B’ and for women.
The office of the president of Konaje gram panchayat is reserved for scheduled caste (Woman). According to the petitioner, the office of president of Konaje gram panchayat ought to have gone to SC male member, in the light of the fact that there was already an SC member out of 12 elected members in the panchayat.
On the other hand, the state election commission submitted that the software was adopted to ward off any kind of arbitrariness in the reservation of president and vice-president in the gram panchayats. The senior counsel for the commission said that Konaje panchayat has two SC members and therefore 50 per cent of the seats are reserved for women. Incidentally, women have emerged victorious in all the reserved seats of the gram panchayats in Mangaluru taluk.
Justice Nagaprasanna said that it is high time that men make way or give such an opportunity to women to lead grassroots institutions like the gram panchayats. “It is in fact a vindication of empowerment of women in grassroots politics. In my considered view, the case at hand is a clear step towards the fruition of the dreams of the father of the nation with regard to village level governance and participation of women in such governance,” the court said.
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