HEMANT GUPTA,J. - (1.) THIS order shall dispose of Civil Writ Petition Nos. 693 3 and 6950 of 2012 as common questions of law and facts are involved in these cases.
(2.) , The petitioners have sought a writ of mandamus for directing the respondents to ensure delimitation of Wards of the Municipal Corporation as per Census 2011 before publication of the Notification under Section 35 of the Punjab State Election Commission Act, 1994 of the election schedule. It is averred by the petitioners that the first meeting of the elected Councillors of Municipal Corporation, Amritsar, was held on 08.09.2007. The duration of the term of the Councillors of the Corporation is five years as per Section 7 of the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act, 1976 (for short 'the Act'). It is averred that the total number of the elected members of the Corporation is to be determined by the Board under the Clause 4 of the Delimitation of Wards of Municipal Corporation Order, 1995 (for short the Order). The said provision contemplates that the Delimitation Board shall readjust the wards as and when the limits of the City are altered or there is increase in the population of the City or there is abnormal variation in population or voting figures at some of the wards of the City necessitate such readjustment.
(3.) IT is pleaded that on the basis of the Census of the year 2001, the number of the elected councillors for a Corporation were determined as 65 as notified on 29.03.2004. The reservations were also made in terms of Section 6 of the Act. But now there is increase in the population as per Census concluded in the year 2011, which necessitates the increase of wards. The notification dated 30.9.2006 contemplates that if the population is up to 15 lakhs, the number of elected councillors shall be 75. Since the population of Amritsar is said to be 12,24,616 as per the 2011 Census, therefore, the elections can be held only after redetermining the number of wards. The petitioners have also challenged the manner of reservation of the seats of the women and Scheduled Cases in the present petitions.;