In Brief
The Supreme Court held that the reservation of the Mayor's office in Dhule Municipal Corporation for the Backward Class category did not violate the rotation policy in the Maharashtra Municipal Corporations (Reservation of Offices of Mayors) Rules, 2006. The Court applied principles of harmonious construction to interpret the rotation clause in conjunction with constitutional mandates and proportional reservation requirements. Given that 7 seats are reserved for Backward Classes but only 3 for Scheduled Castes across the State, it is inevitable that some Corporations will see repeated Backward Class reservations before all categories rotate through. An isolated reading of the rotation clause that prohibited any repetition would render the proportional mandate unworkable. The Court reversed the High Court's decision.
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