Mumbai: Justice RD Dhanuka of the Bombay High Court, On Wednesday, recused himself from hearing the petition challenging the Eknath Sinde-led government's decision to reduce the number of wards within the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to 227.
Justice Dhanuka recused himself, saying, "Not before me."
A plea was filed by former BMC corporation Raju Pednekar challenging the ordinance passed on August 8 that reversed the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government’s decision on the delimitation of corporation wards and reduced the number of wards from 236 to 227.
Joel Carlos, Pednekar’s advocate, mentioned the petition before a division bench headed by Justice Gautam Patel, who kept it for hearing on Thursday.
Supreme Court had recently refused to entertain plea
Pednekar, who belongs to the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), approached the HC on Monday after the Supreme Court recently refused to entertain his plea.
The petition urges that the court declare the August ordinance "null and void." Furthermore, it has been proposed that the process be halted until the petition hearing. The plea further asks for the State Election Commission to conduct BMC elections on the basis of the delineations carried out as per the Supreme Court orders of May 4 and July 20.
