The Madras High Court Bench in Madurai has ordered notice to the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission and the Secretary of Public Election Department on a public interest writ seeking to delete provisions of the Corporation Acts that did not permit advocates appearing for and against the corporations to contest local body elections.
Petitioner K.N. Krishnan, secretary of Green Peace Foundation, said the State Election Commission in its booklet titled ‘Guidelines to contesting candidates of local body elections 2011’ disqualified the advocates appearing for and against the corporations from contesting the local body elections.
The petitioner contended that the provisions prohibiting the lawyers from contesting in elections were against the Indian Constitution, Representation of Peoples Act, 1950, Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1959, and Advocates Act, 1961. Mr. Krishnan claimed that he issued a legal notice to the State Election Commission and the secretary of Public Election Department on July 14, 2012, to remove certain provisions of the Corporation Act. There was no response to the notice and hence he moved the court, he added.
A division bench comprising Justices A. Selvam and M. Sathyanarayanan ordered the notice and adjourned the case to be heard after the vacation.
