Kohima, July 7 (The Telegraph): Male councillors in Nagaland have been occupying seats meant for women for all these years — without even realising it. And how can you blame the councillors, when the government has been unaware that the Constitution stipulates that seats be reserved for women in all municipalities. When realisation finally dawned, the excuse for non-implementation of the Constitutional clause was hilarious.
“An oversight, perhaps,” the Nagaland government tried to explain today. Article 243T of the Constitution states that seats be reserved for women in all municipalities across the country. There is little explanation how legislators overlooked this detail when the Nagaland Municipal Act 2001 was passed.
S.C. Deorani, principal secretary, urban development, said having realised the defects in the Nagaland Municipal Act 2001, the state government has passed the Nagaland Municipal (First Amendment) Act 2006, after incorporating the provisions laid down by the Constitution.
The state government has also identified the wards that need be reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and for women on a rotational basis. Not all, however, are in favour of the newly raised “equal rights” slogan. The move has displeased a large section of councillors who will be affected when the new law is implemented.
Members of various municipalities filed writ petitions in the Kohima bench of high court questioning the validity of the new provisions incorporated in the Nagaland Municipal (First Amendment) Act 2006. Following the petitions, the high court issued a stay order on the implementation of the law. Status quo is to be maintained till further orders, the court said.
The state government, therefore, has been forced to stay off elections to seats that have now been reserved for women. “Women’s lib” seems a tad too hard to chew on in Nagaland.
