Apex court notice to Centre, EC on readjustment of reserved seats

The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking “readjustment” of reserved Parliamentary and Assembly seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC and STs)  in view of additional castes being included in the category in 2002 and 2007.

A bench of Chief Justice of India Justice H L Dattu and Justice Arun Mishra admitted the PIL, filed by one Puran Singh through his lawyer Deepak Anand, seeking directions to the Centre and the poll panel to provide appropriate reservation for seats in the upcoming Punjab Assembly polls.

The petitioner urged the court to ensure readjustment of Parliamentary and Assembly constituencies for SCs and STs for all the states in view of the Constitutional mandate and statutory provisions.

"By virtue of the SCs and STs Orders (Amendment) Act, 2002, and 2007, passed by Parliament, several castes which were hitherto not part of the list of SCs were included in it. The population of SCs has increased considerably due to such inclusion.

“However, despite the Centre and the Election Commission of India have not carried out their consequential Constitutional obligations to reflect the change and grant proportional representation to them,” said the plea.