NEW DELHI: Disqualified elected members of the Anekal Town Municipal Council in Karnataka have filed an appeal in the Supreme Court, challenging an order of the Karnataka High Court, which dismissed their pleas against the State Election Commission over disqualification for not sharing details of election expenditure.
The vacation bench of Justices MR Shah and Aniruddha Bose on Tuesday said that it will hear the matter day after tomorrow. The court was hearing the petition filed by the petitioners K Srinivas and others through advocate Parmatma Singh against the impugned order dated May 30, passed by the High Court of Karnataka.
The petitioners had approached the High Court being aggrieved by an order dated November 15, 2021, passed by the Karnataka State Election Commission under Section 16C of the Karnataka Municipalities Act, 1964, disqualifying the petitioners and nine other councillors of the Anekal TMC for a period of three years from the date of the order.
According to the petition, the said order records that even though notice has been issued by the State Election Commission to the candidates, they have not submitted any explanation and details of election expenditure. The SEC passed the order disqualifying the petitioners without considering the response of the petitioners despite it being on record, the petition said.
“It is settled law that granting of reasonable opportunity of being heard is an essential element of administrative decision making, particularly in cases where drastic consequences of disqualification of an elected representative ensue. In the present case, the order of disqualification of the petitioners for a period of three years was passed by the Karnataka SEC without looking into their reply and affording a personal hearing,” the petition said.
The High Court failed to appreciate that the order dated November 15, 2021, was passed by the SEC in gross violation of the principles of natural justice, without looking into the replies dated June 17, 2020, sent by the petitioners giving details about the election expenditure along with reasons for delay in submitting the same, the petition said. (ANI)