Will reserve seats for women in Panchayati Raj institutions:

TN govt to HC Chennai, Aug 24 (PTI) The Tamil Nadu government todayinformed the Madras High Court that it has decided to reserveseats and offices for women and SC/STs in three-tier PanchayatRaj institutions based on the 2011 census as per theconstitutional mandate. When a PIL filed by DMK raising doubt on the issue cameup before the Second Bench of Justices Huluvadi G Ramesh and MV Muralidharan, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj SecretaryHans Raj Verma submitted in his counter affidavit that thegovernment would fully abide by the Constitution and providereservation of seats and offices to women and SC/STs inPanchayati Raj institutions. In fact, reservation for women has been enhanced fromone-third to one-half in the total number of seats and officesin such institutions, he said. Seats in wards of village panchayats, panchayat unioncouncils and district panchayats are being reserved inproportion to the 2011 population of SC/STs as per theprovisions of the Tamil Nadu Panchayats Act and Tamil NaduPanchayats (reservation of seats and rotation of reservedseats) Rules. As per the TN Panchayats (Amendment) Act, 2016, 50 percent reservation for women is being fixed in Panchayati Rajinstitutions, he submitted. The counter said delimitation literally means the processof fixing limits or boundaries of territorial wards in apanchayat. This includes preparing working papers andapproval, scrutiny of notifications and draft proposals,conduct of public sittings, preparation of final draft andissue of gazette notification, all of which would consume moretime. "Conduct of elections to panchayats as and when they aredue is a constitutional requirement as envisaged under theconstitutional framework. Such a requirement cannot bewithheld or postponed on the ground that the task ofdelimitation and readjustment of territorial constituencieshas not been undertaken," it said. Even in the case of Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, the42nd Amendment provided that polls need not await tilldelimitation of constituencies after each census, it said,seeking dismissal of the writ petition. The bench posted the matter to September 1. PTI CORR APRSCMAV