Ready To Implement 33% Reservation For Women In Civic Bodies: Nagaland Before SC

The Nagaland government today told the Supreme Court it has agreed to implement 33 per cent reservation for women in civic bodies.

The state government told a Bench of Justice S K Kaul and Justice M Sundresh that a resolution has been adopted in this regard at a consultative meeting held on March 9 where all the stakeholders were present.

"A resolution was passed, affirmed by the chief minister and the others, that we should go ahead with the 74th amendment giving reservation of 33 per cent to women," the state counsel told the Bench.

The Court said that with this there is no impediment in holding of elections providing reservation for women. The Bench said that "We have also pursued the affidavit of compliance in which it is stated that on March 16, 2022 a meeting was held in regard to elections for urban local bodies after taking into account the direction of this court the state election commission was intimated to use state assembly electoral rolls as the basis for municipal elections and intensively update the same on account of large gap since the last elections".

"The state election commission submits that they have already initiated a process of summary revision which will take place in two months," the Bench said while directing that it to apprise about the schedule of elections on next date of hearing in July.

The Apex Court had earlier rapped the Nagaland government over the delay to enforce reservation for women in the state's urban local bodies, saying an important aspect of gender equality seems to be getting postponed.

It had taken note of the grievance made by the state election commission that the State Government is not responding to its request regarding changes in legislation to adopt the electoral rolls of Parliament in the assembly election for use in local body elections.

The State Election Commission had told the apex court that no response had been received in pursuance to the office letter to provide requisite additional fields in existing rolls to enable ward-wise segregation of voters.

The Court was hearing a plea filed by People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and others seeking to hold the elections for all municipalities and town councils in Nagaland forthwith in accordance with Section 23A of the Nagaland Municipal (First Amendment) Act, 2006 and the notification of the state government.

With PTI inputs