New Delhi: The Supreme Court has upheld the Haryana government's law mandating minimum educational qualifications as a prerequisite for contesting in panchayat polls. A bench of Justices J Chelameswar and Abhay Manohar Sapre said education is an essential tool and elected representative must have some educational background to enable them to effectively carry out their duties. This order also validates the law passed by Rajasthan government also.
The court dismissed a bunch of petitions filed by some women contestants challenging the validity of the law mandating educational qualifications - Class 10 pass for men, Class 8 pass for women and Class 5 pass for Dalits -for contesting panchayat polls in the state. The law also disqualifies those who are not having toilets at home and had not repaid agricultural loans or defaulted on electricity bills and other arrears to government authorities. The court upheld the law despite noting that a major chunk of people would be disqualified from contesting the elections at the grassroots level. More than 83% of rural women above 20 years of age and almost 67% of women in urban areas are likely to be disqualified under the new law while 68% of the scheduled caste women and 41% of SC men would be ineligible to contest.
In a big boost to the NDA government's sanitation drive, the court also ruled that the Haryana government's decision to bar candidates who are not having toilets at their homes from contesting panchayat polls is a “good decision.”
