After being cornered in the Supreme Court for fixing eligibility criteria for election of Sarpanch and members of panchayat and zila parishads, the Haryana Government on Wednesday told the court that the thought to have a slew of requirements linked to education, sanitation and clean past of the candidates was to develop model villages headed by persons, who could be role models.
The qualifications proposed by the State Government under an amendment introduced to the Haryana Panchayati Raj Act required Sarpanch to be matriculate, women and Scheduled Caste candidates to be Class 8 pass, and SC women candidates to be educated upto Class 5. Besides, the candidates were required to have cleared all arrears of electricity bills and rural bank credit and must have a functional toilet at their residence.
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi defending the State’s decision said, “Education is a key to poverty alleviation. Besides, education reduces chances of being misled by vested interests. We want an informed leadership that can lead by example.”
Referring to the arguments made by the petitioners who questioned the criteria in the light of the rural set up where means of education is limited or non-existent, A-G said, “In a State where 86 per cent residences in villages have toilets and there are 12000 schools, is it outlandish to suggest that a candidate must have a toilet at home and minimum education. You have to be a role model.”
The Bench of Justices J Chelameswar and AM Sapre asked A-G to provide information as to how many persons above 21 years of age will be qualified under the criteria set by State. it said, “What we want to examine is whether the State’s classification is unreasonable by which majority are eliminated.”
Rohatgi said that the State wants to develop villages as “model village” by providing educated leadership, sanitation, roads, broadband facility and means of livelihood so that people are not forced to migrate to cities. The Bench dismissed the idea as being “too optimistic” as it felt the rural-urban divide suffered from infrastructural issues, besides provision of electricity, roads and services.