Kolkata High Court to hear plea challenging GTA elections on June 23

KOLKATA: Calcutta High Court didn’t pass any order on the GNLF petition seeking a stay on publication of the notification for Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) polls on June 26.
Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya on Tuesday held that she would take up the notes of argument from both parties — the state and the petitioners — on June 23. A note of argument is a brief note listing admitted facts and disputed ones along with a timeline.
Advocate general S N Mookherjee submitted to the court that the election process was underway and thus there was no scope for judicial intervention at this stage.He also drew the court’s attention to the fact that the petition challenging the GTA Act was pending adjudication since 2012. Mookherjee submitted there was no stay on the Act so far.
The GNLF chief and Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) chairman had moved the HC with the plea that the GTA Act adopted by repealing the DGHC Act didn’t have “constitutional backing”.
The DGHC Act, 1988 was exempt from the operations of panchayat Act and municipal laws. GNLF had submitted that the repeal of DGHC Act brought back the three-tier panchayat system, leaving no room for GTA.