1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO. 2423 OF 2010 1. Rajesh S/o Shankarrao Wankhede } Age : 32 Years, Occ. : Social Worker, } R/o : Mahunagar, Dargah Parisar, } Beed byepass road, Aurangabad. } 2. Abdul Karim S/o Abdul Rafique } Age : 28 Years, Occ. : Social Worker, } R/o : Hamid Colony, Aurangabad, } Tq. & Dist. : Aurangabad. } .... PETITIONERS V E R S U S 1. The State of Maharashtra } Through the Secretary } Department of Urban Development } Mantralaya, Mumbai - 32. } 2. The State Election Commission } Maharashtra through its } Commissioner. } 3. The Collector, Auangabad } Tq. & Dist. : Aurangabad. } 4. The Municipal Corporation, } Aurangabad through its } Commissioner. } .... RESPONDENTS Mr. C.V.Thombre, Advocate for Petitioner. Mr. S.V.Kurundkar, Assistant Govt. Pleader for State. Mr. S.T.Shelke, Advocate for respondent nos. 2 & 5. Mr. R.S.Deshmukh, Advocate for respondent no. 4. 2 CORAM : P.V.HARDAS & S.V.GANGAPURWALA, JJ. DATE OF JUDGMENT : 19/03/2010 JUDGMENT : [ PER – S.V.GANGAPURWALA, J. ] 1. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. With the consent of the parties, this petition is heard finally at the stage of admission. We have heard Mr. C.V.Thombre, learned counsel for the petitioner, Mr. S.V.Kurundkar, learned Assistant Govt. Pleader on behalf of State, Mr. S.T.Shelke, Advocate for respondent nos. 2 & 5 and Mr. R.S.Deshmukh, Advocate for respondent no. 4. 2. The present petition is filed by the petitioners invoking Article 226 of the Constitution of India. The grievance of the petitioners is that their names are deleted from the list of valid voters of Ward No. 96 for the election of Municipal Corporation, Aurangabad to be held on 11/4/2010. 3. It is the case of the petitioners that the petitioner no. 1 is residing in Mahunagar, Dargah Parisar in Gut No. 61 of Satara, Taluka and District Aurangabad. Petitioner no. 2 is residing at Hamid Colony in Gut No. 37 of village Satara. It is alleged that the respondents have formed Ward No. 96, after hearing the parties, comprising of 3 Hamalwada, Railway station, Silk Mill colony, Indian Hume Pipe Company, Shaha Shuktamiya dargah, M.I.D.C. Railway station, Devgiri Tarun Bharat and boundaries mentioned in the Notification dated 2/2/2010 issued under Section 59 of the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporation Act ( For short, ‘ B.P.M.C. Act ’ ). The petitioners further contended that the provisional voters list was published and there were no objections in respect of the inclusion of the voters in the said provisional voters list, but suddenly respondent no. 5 has deleted the names of 1057 voters from the provisional voters list and published final voters list on 10/3/2010. The names of the petitioners were also deleted. 4. The delimitation i.e. ward formation of Aurangabad Municipal Corporation for the general elections as published in the Notification dated 2/2/2010 was challenged in Writ Petition No. 1234 of 2010 on the count that the area covered by Gut Nos. 28 to 44 and 46 to 75 of village Satara is not included within the limits of the Municipal Corporation, Aurangabad. The Co-ordinate Bench of this Court in Writ Petition No. 1234 of 2010 vide its Order dated 26/2/2010 was pleased to observe that, “ it is admitted position that there is no Notification available either with the Corporation or with the State Government, which would suggest that Gut Nos. 28 to 44 and 46 to 75 of village Satara were part of the then Municipal Council, Aurangabad or for that matter, the Municipal Corporation, Aurangabad ”. It was 4 further observed that, “ the residents of the above mentioned area are already included in the voters list of village Panchayat of Satara, which presupposes that the said area continues to form part of village Panchayat, Satara ”. It was further observed that, “ the said area i.e. Gut Nos. 28 to 44 and 46 to 75 of village Satara can not be included or treated as falling within the Municipal Corporation limits and the residents of that area can not be voters or allowed to participate in the ensuing general election of the Corporation to be held in April, 2010. In the event the State Government issues any Notification in near future before the finalization and publication of the final voters list, so as to include Gut Nos. 28 to 44 and 46 to 75 of village Satara to form part of the Municipal Corporation limits, in that case the names of the eligible persons who are residents of the said area whose names are already included in the draft voters list, may be included in the final voters list, subject to other objections, if any ”. 5. Respondent no. 5 in its affidavit has stated that the final voters list has been published on 10/3/2010. The Government of Maharashtra has not issued any Notification for inclusion of the said area within the limits of the Municipal Corporation, Aurangabad and as such the names of those voters including the petitioners were deleted. The petitioners are residents of Gut Nos. 61 and 37 of village Satara i.e. of the area which forms the part of the village Panchayat, Satara and is not included within the limits of the Municipal Corporation, 5 Aurangabad. 6. In view of these facts, the Writ Petition is devoid of any merit, hence is dismissed in limini. There shall be no order as to costs. [ S.V.GANGAPURWALA ] [ P.V.HARDAS ] JUDGE JUDGE knp/WP 2423.10 ( J )