THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : The policy decision to revise number of wards under local self-governing bodies, is compliant to existing laws, said government sources. The Indian Constitution and Kerala Panchayat Raj Act requires wards to be in proportion to the population, so as to ensure balanced self-governing centres. The government decision to increase one ward per panchayat, municipality/corporation is based on this criterion.
However, the Opposition has been objecting to the Ordinance proposal since its beginning and now celebrates the Governor’s disagreement, as some kind of achievement.
Article 43(C)of the Indian Constitution, representations lays down that, that constituencies of local self-governing bodies should be in proportion to the population in its limits. The Panchayat Raj Act states that the Wards have to match the population figures inside a constituency .
To conform with these Wards , the govt seeks to reset wards based on 2011 census data. In 2015, UDF govt redid the boundaries of only 68 wards. It was aimed at setting up new town municipalities. In 2017, another ward revisal was undertaken in Mattanur. For rest of the panchayats, municipalities and corporations, wards remain based on 2001 census. This is the lapse the new Ordinance seeks to plug.
The Opposition leader argues that law requires redefining boundaries to finish one year before the next census. Fact is, that provision does not mention Wards. It only talks about District, Tehsil, Town and Village in terms of revising physical boundaries.
Also the argument that home numbers would be changed before the census survey is over, is not true. Changing house numbers requires issue of public notification. And that is possible only after elections are held and new committee comes into being; meaning thereby, the census would be over long before that.
Opposition’s last argument states that two Ward revisions cannot occur based on one census. This is pointless given that, Ward revisions took place in 2005 and 2010 based on 2001 census data.
