For TN loss of 2 LS seats in ’60s, HC moots ₹5,600cr in damages

For TN loss of 2 LS seats in ’60s, HC moots ₹5,600cr in damages

‘States That Failed To Control Population Gained, Have More MPs’

Srikkanth.d@timesgroup.com

Chennai:22.08.2021 

If Tamil Nadu has unfairly paid the price for controlling population growth by having its Lok Sabha seats reduced by two, is there a way to compensate for that? The Madras high court has come out with a formula that pegs monetary compensation to the state at Rs 5,600 crore.

Till 1962, Tamil Nadu had 41 Lok Sabha members. The number got reduced to 39 ahead of the 1967 general polls because the state had successfully controlled its population growth by then.

Juxtaposing this supposed anomaly with the dramatic no-confidence motion in 1999 that resulted in the toppling of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government by one vote, the division bench said Tamil Nadu should be compensated either by way of monetary compensation or through additional representation in the Rajya Sabha. “When one MP vote itself was capable of toppling a government, it is very shocking that Tamil Nadu lost two MPs because of successful implementation of birth control in the state,” the bench of Justice N Kirubakaran and Justice B Pugalendhi said.

The judges then spelt out what they thought would be rightful compensation for all the years that have passed with two MPs less. “Notionally, the contribution of an MP in five years could be taken as Rs 200 crore, though it cannot be determined monetarily. Therefore, for every election since 1967, Tamil Nadu has to be compensated Rs 400 crore for reduction of two MP seats, which amounts to Rs 5600 crore,” the bench said.

Asking the Union government as to why Tamil Nadu’s Lok Sabha representation couldn’t be restored to 41 from the next general elections, the bench also suo motu impleaded 10 top political parties, including DMK and the main opposition AIADMK, besides Congress and BJP, to offer their responses.

The court was hearing a PIL seeking de-reservation of Tenkasi parliamentary constituency, which has remained a reserved constituency for more than half a century now.

Population control can’t be a factor to decide the number of political representatives of the States in the Parliament, the bench said. “Those states which failed to implement the birth-control programmes benefited with more political representatives in the Parliament while, states, especially Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, which successfully implemented birth-control programmes, stood to lose two seats in Parliament. Andhra Pradesh also lost two MPs and got the number reduced from 42 to 40 seats in the Parliament”.

NUMBER-CRUNCHING