HON’BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE SHRI MADAN B. LOKUR AND HON’BLE SHRI JUSTICE GHULAM MOHAMMED W.P.No.30256 of 2011 ORDER (Per the Hon’ble the Chief Justice Shri Madan B. Lokur) 1. The Challenge in this writ petition is to G.O.Ms.No.453 dated 28.09.2011. 2. By the said G.O., the term of the Special Officers of 98 Municipalities and 13 Municipal Corporations in the State of Andhra Pradesh was extended for a period of six months on the ground that it is not possible to hold ordinary elections to the said Municipalities/ Municipal Corporations. The reasons are given in the notification and they read as follows: “(1) Upgradation of certain Gram Panchayats into New Nagar Panchayats/Municipalities which requires identification of Backward Classes Voters for reservation of wards and reservation of seats of Chairpersons/Mayors. (2) The Socio Economic Caste Census-2011 is under way in all urban local bodies on par with rural which is mandatory as decided by Government of India’. 3. We cannot agree with learned counsel, in view of the above, that no reasons have been given for extending the term of the Special Officers. 4. Learned counsel for the petitioner then says that the term of the Special Officers cannot be extended beyond the period of one year. 5. We have gone through provisions of Section 62-A(1) of the Andhra Pradesh Municipalities Act, 1965 (for short ‘the Act’) and that very clearly provides that the State Government may appoint a Special Officer to exercise the powers, perform the duties and discharge the functions of the councils, the Chairperson or the Commissioner under the Act where it is not possible to hold elections to the Municipalities in accordance with the provisions of the Act for a period which shall not exceed six years from the date of such appointment. The proviso to Section 62-A(1) permits the State Government to extend the period from six years to ten years for the reasons specified in a notification to be published in the Official Gazette. 6. In the present case, the Special Officers were admittedly appointed on 29.09.2010 and hardly a year has gone by and their appointment has been extended by a period of another six months. It is therefore not correct on the part of the learned counsel for the petitioner, to ignore the provisions of Section 62-A of the Act and contend that the period of appointment of the Special Officers cannot be beyond a period of one year. 7. There is no merit in the writ petition and hence, dismissed. ____________________ MADAN B. LOKUR, CJ ____________________ GHULAM MOHAMMAD, J Date:15.11.2011 sj