The scheme of reservation, worked out for the post of Mayor for 12 municipal corporations out of 21 in Tamil Nadu, is based on the data of Census 2011 and the legal provisions relevant to urban local bodies, according to a senior government official.
On Monday, the State government issued a notification, bringing Chennai and 11 other corporations under one form of reservation or the other. Chennai and one of its neighbouring corporations, Tambaram, have been reserved for the Scheduled Castes (SCs-women), while another neighbouring civic body, Avadi, has been set apart for the SCs and Kancheepuram for women (general).
Two more clusters of nearby corporations — Madurai and Dindigul, and Coimbatore and Erode — have been covered under the scheme, and the four local bodies are meant for women (general). Totally, there are three categories of reservation — SCs, SCs (women) and women (general).
Emphasising that there is “no room for manipulation” in the reservation, the official says that what is to be first ascertained is the number of the posts to be set aside for the SCs. Applying the principle of population, the number has been arrived at 3. When the authorities listed all 21 municipal corporations in the descending order on the basis of the proportion of the SC population, the top three local bodies were Tambaram, Chennai and Avadi. Of them, Tambaram and Chennai were selected for the SCs (women) in view of a higher women population and a 50% quota for women. The authorities again listed the remaining 18 corporations in the descending order based on the share of women’s population. Nine were chosen for women (general), given the rule of 50% quota.
While doing this exercise, one more factor was kept in mind. This pertained to the status of the post in every municipal corporation in 2011. As the law required that if the post of mayor in a municipal corporation was reserved under one category, it could remain so for two full terms or 10 years. Though no election could be held in 2016, the authorities went by the fact that 10 years had passed since the reservation was last effected. This was why Tiruchi, Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi, which were earmarked for women in 2011, have been de-reserved. Likewise, Vellore, which was set aside for SCs (women) in 2011, has now been kept for women (general).
Likewise, if a municipality, reserved for women in 2011, was upgraded subsequently as a municipal corporation, the post of mayor has been de-reserved this time. For example, Thanjavur and Nagercoil, which were, as municipalities, kept for women (general) in 2011, have now been released from the scheme. For the post of mayor, the municipal corporations which are not covered under the reservation scheme are Tiruchi, Tirunelveli, Salem, Tiruppur, Thoothukudi, Thanjavur, Nagercoil, Hosur and Kumbakonam.
The official clarifies that what has been followed in respect of the municipal corporations has been adopted in the case of municipalities and town panchayats.
