Mangalore: High Court Transfers Mayor Election Petition to District Court
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore / Bangalore (SP)
Mangalore/Bangalore, Apr 17: The state High Court, to which a writ petition had been filed, seeking to nullify the election of Gulzar Banu of the Congress to the post of the city mayor, has transferred the case to the Dakshina Kannada district court. The High Court delivered its judgment in this connection today.
In her writ petition, advocate for Roopa Bangera, BJP nominee for the post of Mangalore mayor, whose nomination was rejected by the returning officer for not filing caste certificate in the specified format along with nomination papers, had argued that the divisional commissioner, Mysore, who was the returning officer for the said election, had meted out injustice to her by rejecting the caste certificate filed by her.
While senior advocate, Jayakumar Patil, appeared for the petitioner, former advocate general, Ashok Harnahalli, represented Gulzar Banu. Additional advocate general of the state, Nataraj, too had recorded his arguments in the case.
The High Court, which heard the arguments and examined the documents on Monday, had deferred the verdict to Tuesday because of paucity of time.
On behalf of Gulzar Banu, her advocate argued that Roopa Bangera was wrong in filing a writ petition in the state High Court. He cited that as per the rules governing elections, the remedy available to the aggrieved party is to file an appeal either in the district court or in the High Court, and not a writ petition. “As there is no provision to file writ petition in the High Court, and as the High Court has no jurisdiction to examine this issue, the petition should be dismissed,” he argued, duly referring various verdicts delivered by the Supreme Court in the past.
The additional advocate general, on behalf of the government, also said that appeal should have been preferred by Roopa Bangera in the district court or High Court.
With the transfer of the case to the district court, uncertainty about the continuance of Gulzar Banu as city mayor has ended. Her position at least for the present remains unaffected.