The Punjab and Haryana High Court has recorded the Punjab Government’s undertaking to convene, within seven days, the first meeting of the newly elected members of Fazilka Municipal Council for administering the oath of allegiance and holding election to the posts of President and Vice-President(s).
To ensure fairness in the process, the court also appointed an independent Observer and issued consequential directions governing the conduct of the meeting.
The division bench of Justice Deepak Sibal and Justice Rupinderjit Chahal was hearing a petition filed by Suresh Kumar and others seeking directions to the state to convene the meeting of the newly elected councillors so that oath of allegiance could be administered to them and election to the posts of President and Vice-President(s) could be held.
At the outset of the hearing, Punjab Additional Advocate-General Jastej Singh submitted that “the meeting, as above, shall be convened within seven days from today”. He further stated that “the entire meeting and the venue from the outside, from all possible angles, shall be got videographed, which videography shall include the process of voting by the members by raising of hands”.
The state also undertook that “the CCTV/videographed material, along with copies of the written proceedings of the meeting, in original, shall be preserved under the care and custody of Deputy Commissioner, Fazilka for a period of three months”; that “adequate security, if so required, shall also be made available where the afore meeting/elections are going to take place”; and that “to ensure fairness in the conduct of the afore meeting, the state has also no objection to the appointment of an independent Observer”.
Recording the undertaking, the bench observed: “We hold that the state shall remain bound by the afore statement made before us.” The bench further appointed advocate Ranvijay Singh as the Observer and directed that he “shall remain present throughout the proceedings of the meeting to be convened for administering oath of allegiance to the newly elected members of Municipal Council, Fazilka and also to elect the President and Vice-President(s)”.
The Deputy Commissioner, Fazilka, was directed to inform the Observer at least 48 hours before the meeting through e-mail, WhatsApp and a letter to be served through a special messenger. The bench further directed that the Observer shall reach the office of the Deputy Commissioner, Fazilka, at least three hours before the scheduled time of the meeting, after which the Deputy Commissioner “shall ensure that the appointed Observer securely reaches the venue of the meeting well before the meeting commences”. After the proceedings conclude, the Deputy Commissioner was also directed to make arrangements for “securely bringing back the appointed Observer from the venue of the meeting to the office of the Deputy Commissioner, Fazilka”.
The order further provides: “The Observer shall be at liberty to take photographs/video of the proceedings both inside and outside the venue.”
To preserve an independent record of the exercise, the bench directed: “The report of the Observer with photographs/video, if any, shall be submitted to this court in a sealed cover to be kept in the safe custody of Registrar (Judicial) of this court for a period of six months.”