SC irked at arguments against Haryana’s new panchayat poll law

The Supreme Court on Wednesday took exception to the argument that those who have defaulted in paying electric bills should not be barred from contesting panchayat polls on the ground that MPs and MLAs were not restrained despite owing huge sums to various service providers.

“What kind of argument is this? These arguments are for somewhere else and cannot be raised before the court,” a Bench comprising Justices J Chelamesar and AM <g data-gr-id="14">Sapre</g> said, adding “please advance arguments on <g data-gr-id="18">proposition</g> of law and Constitution”.

The court’s observation came when <g data-gr-id="20">advocate</g> Sanjay Parekh, appearing for NGO PUCL, was assailing the Haryana Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Act, 2015 which, besides fixing minimum educational qualifications for candidates of panchayat (village administration) polls, restrains people from contesting if they have defaulted in paying electric bills. “It is totally arbitrary. How can it be that if a person, who has not been able to pay electricity bills, will be a bad ‘sarpanch’,” the lawyer said and referred to the huge unpaid such bills of MPs and MLAs.