Overview
- On December 22, the High Court declined interim relief on a batch of nearly 80 petitions challenging the GHMC ward delimitation and mergers, keeping the cases for adjudication on merits.
- The Advocate General cited Article 243ZG to argue that courts cannot intervene at this stage, while petitioners pointed to Supreme Court rulings that allow limited judicial review of delimitation.
- An earlier single-judge direction to publish ward-wise population data and maps for all 300 wards was narrowed by a division bench to only the two wards specifically under challenge.
- Government counsel told the court that more than 5,000 objections were received and examined and that the statutory steps were completed before a final proposal was sent to the state.
- Official sources said the Chief Minister approved the final draft for 300 wards following the merger of 27 local bodies, with a gazette likely on Wednesday and a legislative debate slated from December 27 on GHMC’s future structure.