Supreme Court refuses to entertain PIL against husbands running proxy panchayats through wives; says women willingly allow it
The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to entertain a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed against the menace of husbands running village local bodies through proxies including their wives who contest elections from posts reserved for women [Mundona Rural Development Foundation vs Union of India].
The practice is referred to as ‘pradhan patis’ (village chief husbands) in the Hindi heartland and is commonplace in several rural areas. The petitioner had called for the constitution of a committee to suggest solutions on this issue.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia acknowledged that the issue was real, but added that it was a part of an evolutionary process in India when it came to increasing the participation of women in governance.
“This is for the executive, to form any committee. Can we say the spouse should not stand only (in elections)? This is complete interference in the executive’s affairs. The women are willingly lending their shoulders to such a scenario. What can be done by us?“ Justice Kaul asked.
The counsel conceded that the petitioner did not have a solution. However, she argued that despite 30 years having passed since a law was introduced to reserve seats for women, it was still not being implemented in practice.
“There are husbands standing by proxy. Even we are at a loss. There are too many departments to be sending representations to," she told the Court.
The PIL was disposed of after noting that it was not the Court’s function to form a committee for such issues.
The bench, however, granted liberty to the petitioner to file a representation before the Union Panchayati Raj Ministry.