Panchkula: Residents to wait longer for municipal corporation polls

PANCHKULA: The residents of Panchkula, Pinjore and Kalka will have to wait a little longer to participate in Panchkula municipal corporation elections as the Punjab and Haryana high court is yet to take a call on the petition on bifurcation of the MC.


Panchkula MLA Gyan Chand Gupta said the state government was in the favour of elections, but due to court case, the issue was lying pending.

He said residents were calling him for their petty works as ward councillors were not available.

MC commissioner-cum-administrator Rajesh Jogpal said the matter was sub-judice and the court would take a final call on the issue.

Former mayor Upinder Kaur, who was the first mayor to hold the post in the municipal corporation after the elections in 2013, said why the government was not replying in the court and instead agreed to continue with the same formula of having Kalka and Pinjore in the jurisdiction of the MC.

She said the councillors had unanimously approved that they did not want bifurcation of the MC before their term was over. In fact, in the last five years from 2013, works on projects worth crores of rupees were executed in Kalka and Pinjore.

Former executive officer of the MC, O P Sihag, said as per the Haryana Municipal Corporation Act, there was a provision that no seat could be left vacant for more than six months, but in this case, as the petition was pending in the Punjab and Haryana high court, it was not possible for the authorities concerned to follow the same.

“Questions were being raised on the intentions of the Haryana government as to why they were not putting up a request in the court to speed up the case so that the MC elections could be conducted,” he said.

O P Sihag further said that the office of the MC commissioner-cum-administrator was also overburdened due to acute shortage of staff.

He said the resident welfare associations were not in the favour of elections as the councillors got development works according to the demand of the ward and did not give importance to the demands of the members of the associations.

President of Sector 12 resident welfare association Rakesh Aggarwal said the development works moved at a fast pace only after the MC’s elected body dissolved as they were approaching the officers directly.

He said due to the absence of the MC elected body, the authorities were not following Haryana Minister Citizen Participants 2008 Act according to which 11-member body had to be constituted which was chaired by the councillor of the ward.

What the Municipal Corporation Act says

Expert said if the high court quashes the order on September 10, which is the next date of hearing, the whole process would require at least five months for starting the election process.

The government will then have to issue notification on bifurcation of Kalka and Pinjore MC for which the authorities would require at least a fortnight to prepare the notification. After which, objections will be invited from the residents for which they will be given 30 days. Then in 15 days, the objections will be settled down by the authorities.

The MC will then start ward delimitation for which 15 days will be required for notification, then 30 days for calling objections and 15 days to settle objections.

The MC will enroll new voters for elections which will further require a month’s time.

Why was the election upheld?

On January 29, 2018, the Punjab and Haryana high court had stayed the Haryana government’s move to bifurcate Kalka, Pinjore and some villages out of the municipal corporation (MC), Panchkula. The matter had reached before the Punjab and Haryana high court in the wake of a petition filed by Satinder Tony, former MC councillor from Pinjore.

The petitioner had submitted that with the state government’s decision, the municipal corporation of Panchkula would lose the minimum requirement of population required to maintain its status as a corporation. It was further stated that the decision of the state was not as per any legal process. The Panchkula municipal corporation was formed in March 2010 by merging the then municipal council with municipal committees of Kalka and Pinjore along with 42 villages.