Lucknow, Mar 17: In line with the Allahabad High Court directives, Uttar Pradesh has approved an amendment in the UP Panchayati Raj Act by giving a nod to the changed reservation policy for the panchayat polls.
According to an official, the state government had earlier applied 1995 as the base year for rotation in the reservation for seats in panchayat elections in the entire state.
“As the Court has ruled that base year for reservation under the UP Panchayat Raj (Reservation and Allotment of Seats and Offices) Rules would be 2015, the state cabinet has approved this proposal,” the official added.
The UP Government had ordered the change in the reservation policy through a government order on February 11, 2021. The government had then contended that around 25 per cent of the three-tier panchayat bodies had not been covered by reservation ever since the quota system in panchayat elections was implemented in 1995.
The state cabinet, on Tuesday evening, also approved 2,890 crores for the acquisition of 1,185 hectares of land for phases 1 and 2 of Noida International Airport in Jewar.
Approval was also given to transfer 36-hectare land out of the total 1,363 hectares for the development of the first two phases, from the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority to the civil aviation department.
The cabinet also allowed the UP Power Corporation Limited and power distribution companies to take long term transactional loans of up to Rs 7,000 crore. The government will provide a guarantee for it.
An official said that the funding was required as power companies had suffered huge losses during the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020.
(UNI)
