Supreme Court bats for qualified candidates in polls

New Delhi: Observing that educational qualification will help in better administration of panchayats, the Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the law passed by the Haryana government prescribing educational qualifications for candidates to contest panchayat polls in the State.

A Bench of Justices J. Chelameswar and A.M. Sapre held that the Haryana Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Act 2015 was intra vires the constitution and does not violate Article 14 of the Constitution. Justice Chelameswar wrote the main judgment and Justice Sapre supplemented it with additional reasons.

The Amended Act also debarred people who have loan arrears to cooperative banks or failed to pay electricity bills and those without functional toilets at home to contest the panchayat polls and the Bench upheld these provisions also and dismissed writ petitions filed by certain candidates who were ineligible to contest.

Justice Chelameswar in his judgment said, “The impugned provision creates two classes of voters — those who are qualified by virtue of their educational accomplishment to contest the elections to the panchayats and those who are not.

“The proclaimed object of such classification is to ensure that those who seek election have some basic education which enables them to more effectively discharge various duties which befall the elected representatives of the panchayats.

“The object sought to be achieved is to have “model representatives for local self government for better administrative efficiency which is the sole object of the 73rd constitutional amendment.”

The Bench said no one can dispute that education is must for both men and women as both together make a healthy and educated society. “It is an essential tool for a bright future and plays an important role in the development and progress of the country.” the bench added.