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Reservation for whom! |
Anxiety showing on the face |
Jharkhand government had set the date for holding Panchayat election
starting 26th of September 2005. However just few days before the
election was to be held, the Jharkhand High Court struck down as
unconstitutional several provisions of the PESA- Panchayat Extension
to Scheduled Areas Act, 1996, a central law, and the Jharkhand
Panchayat Raj Act, 2001.
The verdict:
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The
High Court rejected 100% reservation for the post of panchayat
heads to tribal in Scheduled Areas under PESA Act. It
objected to reservation of more than 50% as it violates article 14
of the constitution that guarantees equality to all. |
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The Court asked
for reservation of SCs (Scheduled Castes) in Scheduled Area;
reservation of seats for women in non-schedule areas and reserving
seats for SCs for single seat in non-schedule areas. |
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Scheduled Area
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Scheduled districts
Act, 1874 declared Santhal Parganas and Chota Nagpur
division as scheduled districts. Provisions for
administration of scheduled areas and scheduled tribe’s
Area is contained in Article 244(1) and Fifth Schedule
of the constitution. The scheduled areas are treated
differently from the other areas because they are
inhabited by aboriginals, who are socially and
economically backward. The major feature of the Fifth
Schedule is the governor’s power to adopt laws, passed
by Parliament and State legislature. He has the
executive power of the central government to give
direction to the state for administration of scheduled
area. |
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