The Madhya Pradesh High Court in a recent order gave two weeks time to the state government to file a reply in the matter of merging Kolar Municipality with the Bhopal Municipal Corporation.
The division bench of Chief Justice Mohammad Rafique and Justice Vijay Kumar Shukla scheduled the next hearing of the case on February 10. In the previous hearing, the High Court had asked the state government to submit a reply. But this was not done, rather an extension was sought in its place. This attitude was opposed by the petitioner, stating that time is being sought with the intention of intentionally pending the case.
The PIL filed by Amitabh Agnihotri, spokesperson of Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee, through Advocate Shantanu Saxena, challenged the merger of Kolar Municipality with Bhopal Municipal Corporation. The Counsel for the petitioner put forward the notification of ward reservation issued on October 16, 2020 in addition to the notifications of September 6, 2014 and November 20, 2014 in this regard. These notifications should be cancelled as per the rules, claimed the petitioner.
The main demand is to stop the implementation of the notification of ward reservation issued on October 16, 2020 until the final order is passed on the petition under consideration and the objections are resolved.
On the request of the Deputy Advocate General Swapnil Ganguly on behalf of the State Government, the Division Bench has given time to present the reply. The High Court has given instructions to file reply before the next hearing of the case.