Institute of Legal and Management Studies

The Supreme Court on Monday (August 25) issued notice in a writ petition alleging failure of authorities to conduct elections to the Village Committees under the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC).

A bench of Chief Justice BR Gavai and Justice NV Anjaria was hearing a plea filed by Pradyot Deb Burman seeking directions to the ECI and Tripura Election Commission to immediately conduct overdue Village Committee elections under the Tripura Tribal Areas Automatic District Council Act, 1994.

Senior Advocate Gopal Sankarnarayan submitted that the Village Committees are equivalent to Municipal Corporations. He said that the elections have not been conducted despite orders of the High Court.

Background

The petition states that the last Village Committee elections were held in 2016, and the term of the committees expired on March 7, 2021. Under Section 4 of the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (Establishment of Village Committee) Act, 1994, elections are to be held before the expiry of the committee's five-year term.

The petition highlights orders passed by the Tripura High Court, where the authorities had assured the court that elections would be conducted in a time-bound manner. The High Court had noted that the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District (Establishment of Village Committee) Act, 1994 assigns significant duties to the Village Committees, including sanitation, maintenance of village infrastructure, and educational facilities.

According to the petition, despite the High Court's observation on July 13, 2022, that elections were overdue and should be completed preferably within the first week of 2022, no polls have been held. It further states that during contempt proceedings in May 2024, the State Election Commission proposed that elections would be completed by December 2024, but no action has been taken since.

The petition submits that the absence of elected Village Committees has stalled developmental works and deprived indigenous tribal populations and rural residents of access to basic health care, sanitation, and welfare benefits. The plea states that failure to conduct elections violates Articles 243K, 243ZA, and 324, of the Constitution which provide for timely elections to local bodies.

“in the absence of the a Village Development Committee or Village Committee, funds are not being released by the Respondent No. 2 towards health, sanitation as well as other welfare and developmental works relating to the villages as a consequence of which the poor indigenous scheduled tribes and the poor rural Bengali population which is settled in the rural villages of the TTAADC Areas of the State of Tripura are being deprived of basic health facilities and other benefits, which they are otherwise entitled to under various beneficial and welfare legislations and schemes framed from time to time”, the petition states.

The petition seeks directions to the respondents – Union of India, State of Tripura, Election Commission of India, and State Election Commission of Tripura to conduct Village Committee elections in the TTAADC areas of Tripura in accordance with the 1994 Act and the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Village Committee (Conduct of Election) Rules, 1996.

Advocate Gaurav Kejriwal represents the petitioner.

Case no. – W.P.(C) No. 786/2025

Case Title – Pradyot Deb Burman v. Union of India