: The State government on Wednesday informed the Madras High Court that it had decided to provide reservation of seats and offices in the impending local body elections for women and candidates of scheduled caste/scheduled tribe communities based on the 2011 census.
The Rural Development and Panchayat Secretary made the submission before the Division Bench of Justices Huluvadi G. Ramesh and M.V. Muralidharan on PILs moved by the DMK, the PMK and others seeking direction to the government to hold the elections after effecting delimitation of wards and reservation based on the 2011 census.
In his counter affidavit, the Secretary submitted that the government has enhanced the reservation for women from one-third to one-half in the total number of seats and offices in the three tier panchayat raj institutions.
He added that seats in the wards of the village panchayats, panchayat union councils and district panchayats are being reserved in proportion to the 2011 population of SC/STs in accordance with the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Panchayats Act and Tamil Nadu Panchayats (Reservation of Seats and Rotation of Reserved Seats) Rules.
As to the delimitation of the wards, the Secretary said, “The Director of Census Operation has compiled the panchayat-wise population details and furnished the data as per the 2011 census only in 2014. Delimitation of a mammoth 1,06,459 wards in the State could not be completed within a short duration by following all due process.”
