Uttarakhand High Court Rejects Plea Against OBC Reservation For Almora Mayor Post, Cites Election Process Bar

Observing that the courts cannot interfere in the middle of the election process, the Uttarakhand High Court yesterday (January 16) dismissed the special appeal challenging the notification reserving the Almora Municipal Corporation Mayor post for the OBC category.

Initially, Shobha Rani, who wanted to contest Almora's Mayor Election, filed the Writ Petition before the Single Bench challenging the notification dated 23.12.2024 issued by the Additional Secretary of State's Urban Development Department, whereby the post of Mayor, Nagar Nigam, Almora has been reserved/ allotted for the Other Backward Caste (OBC) Category.

The petitioner claimed that the post be designated for the General (Women) category. She argued that under the Municipal Corporation (Reservation and Allocation of Seats and Posts) Rules, 2024, categories with a population of less than 10,000 should not be eligible for reservation. Given that the OBC population in Almora Nagar Nigam is 2,513, compared to 30,663 for the General (Unreserved) category, she sought the post to be allocated to the General category.

However, the Single Bench comprising Justice Rakesh Thapliyal, dismissed the petition on January 10, 2025, citing judicial constraints on non-interference during the election process. Following this, the Special Appeal was preferred.

The Special Appeal was heard by the Vacation Bench of Justice Alok Kumar Verma yesterday.

The Appellant reiterated the arguments made in the Writ Proceedings and claimed that the Mayor Post shouldn't be reserved for the OBC category but for the General (Women) Category.

The Court acknowledged the appellant's argument about the population criterion under the 2024 Rules but emphasized that pre-election interference is barred. It upheld the Single Bench's decision that such challenges, including non-compliance with the Municipality and Municipal Corporation Acts, must be raised via election petitions post-results.

“if the elections are concluded, after declaring the result of the returned candidate and whether the non-compliance of Constitutional provision as well as non-compliance with the provisions of Municipality Act and the Municipal Corporation Act as well as Rules of 2024 can be a subject matter of election petition or not,” and this issue will be decided later on but that too after the election are over, otherwise any interference at this stage amounts to an interference with the ongoing elections, which is against the mandate of settled principle of law.”, the Single Judge said.

With the below-mentioned observation, the Appeal was dismissed.

“I am of the considered view that the learned Single Judge has not erred in passing the impugned order. I do not find any perversity and infirmity in the impugned order warranting interference. This Court does not find any merit in the present appeal. Special Appeal is liable to be dismissed at the admission stage.”

Appellant:

Counsel for the Appellant: Mr. K.K. Tiwari, Advocate.

Counsel for the Respondent: Mr. J.S. Bisht, Standing Nos.1 to 3 Counsel, Mr. Gajendra Tripathi, Standing Counsel and Mr. Naveen Tiwari, Brief Holder.

Counsel for the Respondent No.4 : Mr. Sanjay Bhatt, Advocate.

Case Title: Smt. Shobha Joshi Versus State of Uttarakhand and Others

Click here to read/download the order