The Supreme Court on Monday sought the Haryana government’s response to a petition questioning State laws which can frustrate the opportunity of a Scheduled Caste person from being elected sarpanch of a gram panchayat.
The amendments in question are Section 9(5) of the Haryana Panchayati Raj (Second Amendment) Act, 2020 and Haryana Panchayati Raj Election (Amendment) Rules, 2021.
A Bench led by Justice U.U. Lalit issued notice to Haryana on a petition filed by Shyam Sunder, represented by advocate Deepkaran Dalal. The petition has raised the legality of the two laws and their insistence that a Scheduled Caste member can be sarpanch only if the Scheduled Caste population add up to more than 10% of the total population in that gram panchayat.