MHA to Supreme Court: J&K Delimitation Commission's order final, can't be contested
13-Sep-2022
The Ministry of Home Affairs has stated before the Supreme Court that the order of the Delimitation Commission on J&K UT of redrawing constituencies and increase in the number of assembly seats has become final and it can't be challenged in the courts.
"Section 10(2) of the Delimitation Act, 2002, bars challenge to the orders of the Delimitation Commission once they are published in the Gazette of India. Thus, the instant writ petition is nothing but a frivolous attempt to challenge the Delimitation Commission without any basis,” the Ministry of Home Affairs said in an affidavit filed in the top court.
Affidavit has been filed by the MHA in response to a petition challenging the delimitation exercise in Jammu and Kashmir. Petitioner is a Srinagar resident, Haji Abdul Ghani Khan and the bench is likely to take up the matter on September 29. On August 30, the Supreme court had summoned the Centre over the delay in submitting its response to Khan’s petition, and gave it a week to do so. On May 13, the court had issued notices to the centre, the J&K administration and EC.
Seeking dismissal of Khan's petition, the Centre's affidavit stated: “If the prayers of the current petition are allowed, it would lead to an anomalous situation wherein orders of the Delimitation Commission, which attain finality at the time of publishing in the Gazette of India, would be rendered infructuous...the same would also be violative of Article 329 of the Constitution which details out the bar to interference by courts in electoral matters.”
About the petitioner's contention against bifurcation of the state of J&K into UTs of J&K and Ladakh, the Centre maintained that the division was duly ratified by both House of the Parliament through the passage of the 2019 Act. “The Parliament considered it necessary to take this measure in the larger interest of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh,” it said.