High Court Orders New Chandigarh Mayor To Take Charge Tomorrow, Orders Videography Of Deputy Mayor Elections

The Punjab and Haryana High Court today disposed of the plea challenging a meeting called by Chandigarh's Deputy Commissioner (DC) to conduct the election of Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor allegedly in violation of the Supreme Court's ruling in the Mayor election case, after new notification calling for fresh election process was issued by the DC.

While giving slew of directions, a division bench of Justice Sudhir Singh and Justice Harsh Bunger said, "In view of the undertaking given on behalf of respondent No.10 (Kuldeep Kumar), the newly elected Mayor, shall assume the charge of his Office by 10 a.m. tomorrow i.e. 28.02.2024 at the Office of Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh."

The Court also issued the following directions while disposing of the plea:

"(ii) The newly elected Mayor shall ensure his association with the conduct of the aforesaid elections;

(iii) The elections to the posts of Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor, be carried out, in accordance with the notice...

 (iv) The entire process of conduct of the aforesaid elections shall be videographed by the respondent- authorities.

(v) The Councillors, who would come for voting in the aforesaid elections, shall not be accompanied by any supporters or by the security personnel belonging to any other State.

(vi) The Chandigarh Police, shall ensure to provide adequate security to the Councillors, who would come for voting, in view of the fact that they will not be accompanied by any security personnel belonging to any other State.

(vii) The Chandigarh Police shall also ensure that neither any ruckus nor any untoward incident takes place in or around the premises of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation Office, prior to, during or after the election process."

Congress councillors Gurpreet Singh and Nirmala Devi had moved the Court contending that fresh elections to the post of Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor were required to be held and the previous nominations and withdrawal were no longer valid as per the order of the Supreme Court.

Reliance was placed upon para 44 of the order wherein the Apex Court declared Aam Aadmi Party Councillor Kuldeep Kumar as the Mayor of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation. Para 44 states, "The other elections which are required to be held in terms of the regulations shall now take place in accordance with law, save and except for the election of the Mayor which has been resolved by the final directions which have been issued..."

It was further contended that the notification issued by the DC on February 22 and February 23 for holding Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor elections is "arbitrary and against the provisions of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (Procedure and Conduct of Business) Regulations, 1996."

As per the rules, the presiding authority to conduct Deputy Commissioner elections is the mayor who was yet to take charge of the office.

The plea sough directions to hold fresh elections for the post of Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor in a transparent and fair manner as per the Rules.

After the new notification was issued by the DC today, with fresh election schedule for conducting the election of Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor, the Court said that the "the relief sought for in the instant writ petition, has been rendered infructuous."

It further added that the relief sought for in the instant writ petition, has been rendered infructuous for three reasons, namely; i) the newly elected Mayor has not assumed charge of his office;

ii) on account of non-assumption of charge by the newly elected Mayor, the elections scheduled for today in pursuance of the impugned notice dated 23.02.2024 could not be held and

iii) respondent No.2 (DC) has issued a fresh notice dated 27.02.2024...indicating the schedule/process of fresh elections to the posts of Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor, Municipal Corporation, U.T., Chandigarh.

The Court further clarified that writ petition has been disposed of with the consent of all concerned parties and the same shall not be treated as a precedent, with regard to the legality and/or interpretation of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation Regulations.

"The question of legality of the aforesaid 1996 Regulations, is kept open to be considered in an appropriate case," it added.

The Supreme Court recently declared that the results announced by the Presiding Officer Anil Mash on January 30, 2024, whereby the BJP candidate Manoj Kumar Sonkar was declared as the winner, to be illegal and set it aside. The Court found that the Presiding Officer had deliberately defaced 8 ballots which were cast in favour of Kuldeep Kumar to make them invalid.

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (PH) 63

Senior Advocate Sanjay Kaushal with Advocates Rajiv Sharma, Karanbir Singh, Manoj Gujral, Ankit Rana for the petitioners.

Anil Mehta, Senior Standing Counsel, U.T., Chandigarh, along with Sanjiv Ghai, Advocate, Sumeet Jain, Advocate, Addl. Standing Counsel and Parminder Singh Kaul, Advocate, for respondents No. 1 and 2.

Chetan Mittal, Senior Advocate with Prateek Gupta, Advocate, for respondents No. 3 & 4.

Manish Bansal, P.P., U.T., Chandigarh along with  Rajeev Anand, APP, U.T., Chandigarh and Navjit Singh, Advocate, for respondents No. 5 and 6.

Gurminder Singh, Senior Advocate, with Advocates Ferry Sofat, RPS Bara, and  K.S. Kharbanda, \ for respondent No.10.

Click here to read/download the order