SC reserves verdict on whether 2-child policy requires reconsideration

New Delhi: Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved its verdict on a plea challenging the bar on persons with more than two children from contesting elections to the panchayat and other local bodies in Maharashtra.

A bench of justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe orally said it will consider whether the impugned verdict (Javed versus state of Haryana, 2003) requires reconsideration by the present bench or requires a reference to a larger bench.

The development took place during the hearing of a petition on disqualification of a former Sarpanch at the Kakoda Gram Panchayat, Mangala Bhimrao, under Section 14(1)(j-1) of the Maharashtra Village Panchayat Act, 1959, on the birth of her third child. The Act imposed a cap from September 13, 2000, when the amendment was enforced.