Telangana High Court: In a writ petition challenging Section 21(3) of the Telangana Panchayat Raj Act, 2018 (‘the Act’), which prohibited candidates with more than two children from contesting in the panchayat elections, the Division Bench of Sujoy Paul and Renuka Yara, JJ., rejected the public interest litigation (‘PIL’), holding that the petition could not be treated as a PIL. The Court also held that the question of whether the law needed to be revised was within the legislature’s power. Further, the Court imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 on the petitioner for filing the petition wrongly as a PIL.
Background
The petitioner wanted to contest the panchayat elections but was barred by Section 21(3) of the Act, which prohibited candidates having more than two children from participating. The petitioner contended that it was the year 2025, and in view of the diminishing fertility rate, the provision imposing a ban on contesting elections for persons having more than two children needed to be revisited and declared unconstitutional.
Analysis
The Court rejected the contention that the present writ petition could be treated as a PIL merely because the petitioner himself had more than two children and was interested in participating in the elections. The Court stated that if certain persons were held to be ineligible to contest the election having more than two children, such persons might be ‘persons aggrieved’ and could have assailed that decision in an independent capacity and not as a PIL.
The Court further stated that even otherwise, the curtains on this aspect were already drawn by the Supreme Court in Javed v. State of Haryana (2003) 8 SCC 369, wherein a similar provision was unsuccessfully challenged.
The Court held that whether the law needed to be revisited due to a change in fertility rate was within the purview of the lawmakers. In PIL, no such interference could be made. Thus, no case was made out for interference.
Since the petition was unnecessarily filed as a PIL, the Court imposed costs of Rs. 25,000 on the petitioner to be deposited before the High Court Legal Services Committee within 30 days.
[Avula Nagaraju v. State of Telangana, WP(PIL) SR No. 6578 of 2025, decided on 03-03-2025]
Advocates who appeared in this case:
For the petitioner: Anirudh Thimmaraju
For the respondent: Government Pleader G. Veeraswamy and Assistant Government Pleader K. Anjamma
