The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Friday issued notice and sought a counter affidavit from the State on a public interest litigation petition that sought a direction to the government to ensure that reservation was followed in the urban local bodies elections.
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A Division Bench of Justices Pushpa Sathyanarayana and S. Srimathy issued the notice on a petition filed by Maamallan Tha. Kanagamuthu, State coordinator of Mannin Mainthar Iyakkam, based in Theni.
He said that as per a Government Order, Mayor posts of Chennai, Tambaram and Avadi Corporations had been reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates. Similarly, the posts of heads of 21 municipalities and 88 town panchayats had been reserved for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates.
The reserved Corporations were all in and around Chennai. No Corporation in other parts of the State had been reserved. The reservation had not been properly implemented for the urban local bodies elections.
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Taking into account the fact that there was a huge SC population in places like Thoothukudi and Tirunelveli, the petitioner said, the Mayorship of Thoothukudi and Tirunelveli Corporations should be reserved for SC candidates.