The bench consisting of chief justice KS Radhakrishnan and justice Akil Kureshi was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Gandhinagar Saher Jagrut Nagrik Parishad.
After a long battle, residents of capital city Gandhinagar can now look forward to having a civic body in place. A division bench of Gujarat high court on Thursday directed the state government to accord municipal corporation status to Gandhinagar city in six months.
The bench consisting of chief justice KS Radhakrishnan and justice Akil Kureshi was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Gandhinagar Saher Jagrut Nagrik Parishad. The parishad had filed the PIL in 2007, seeking a municipal corporation status for the capital city of the state.
When in place, it will be the eighth municipal corporation in the state. Now there are seven municipal corporations in the state — Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar and Junagadh.
Jayant Bhatt, the counsel for the organisation, submitted in the court: “It is incumbent upon the state government under Article 243Q and Article 243R of the Constitution to constitute an elected local self-government for every urban area of the state.”
He further submitted that, “The population of Gandhinagar city was 1,95,985 as per 2001 census and it covers an area of 56.73 square kilometres having a population of 3,453 per square kilometre and the number of household was 41,661. Of late, the city was developed to a major urban area and the state government constituted Gandhinagar
Notified Area Committee under Section 264A of the Gujarat Municipalities Act, 1963.
Later, with the coming into force of the 74th Constitutional Amendment with effect from June 1, 1993, Gujarat Municipalities (Amendment) Act, 1993 was enacted, which came into force from August 1993, with the result that the power of the government to declare or continue any urban area or part thereof as notified area was withdrawn and was restricted to industrial township only.”
On the other hand, advocate-general Kamal Trivedi contended that, “The government found it unnecessary at the present juncture to form a municipal corporation at Gandhinagar.”
The AG further submitted that, “The opinion submitted by legal department was discussed at the government level and initially it was thought of forming such a corporation for which officers of the state government visited various places, including Chandigarh. But it was later on felt that it may be unnecessary to form a corporation at Gandhinagar at that juncture, taking into consideration the views expressed by the people who are living in and around Gandhinagar city.”
The AG further submitted that, “The government is providing all civic amenities and facilities to the citizens of Gandhinagar and they are happy with the present set-up. On formation of a municipal corporation at Gandhinagar, unnecessarily people would be subjected to local taxes which may be a burden to them since most of the inhabitants in and around Gandhinagar are government employees. Further, it is also stated that there is no obligation on the part of the state government to constitute such a corporation. Clause 2 of Article 243Q is not a mandatory provision and the government has got discretion as to whether a municipal corporation has to be formed for urban area or not.”
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