Battle for elected Gandhinagar municipality goes to HC

After all efforts of the Gandhinagar Shaher Jagrut Nagrik Parishad to get a favourable decision from the court failed, it moved a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on Tuesday before a two-judge bench comprising Chief Justice K S Radhakrishnan and Justice M S Shah.

Through a petition, the Parishad requested the state government for an elected municipal body for Gandhinagar like those in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat and Rajkot.

Putting up a strong argument, petitioner’s advocate Jayant Patel contended that with 74th Constitutional amendment in June 1993, the government came with the Gujarat Municipalities (Amendment) Act that made all notified area committees defunct, barring industrial townships. He pointed out that Gandhinagar notified area committee also became defunct with the Municipalities Act coming into force from May 31, 1993, and an elected body had to be constituted in its place. But despite all legal and other conditions in its favour, Gandhinagar is “illegally” continuing as a notified area, with the state government having taken no measure to set up a municipal body to manage the civic affairs of the town, which was declared the state’s capital in 1965.

Substantiating his point, Patel said that if Junagadh — with a population of merely 1.68 lakh — could be made a municipal corporation in 2006, Gandhinagar had all the similar parametres for being given a municipal corporation. As per the 2001 census, its population is 1.95 lakh, with a population density of 3,453 per square kilometre.

Spread over 56.75 square kilometres with 30 sectors and a few villages within its geographical limits, it now has an info-city, an electronic estate and a thermal power station. A number of industries have also been attracted to the city, besides several new town planning schemes proposed by Gandhinagar Urban Development Authority in the recent past.

The issue has been taken up with the authorities earlier as well. In November, 1996, senior citizen’s council took the matter to the then chief minister, Parishad president Premshankar Bhatt said. In March 1997, the Parishad took up the matter with the state legal department, which in turn advised the state government to set up a municipality in Gandhinagar under Article 243(Q) of the Constitution. In January 2002, the Parishad approached the Urban Development Ministry. In October 2006, the Parishad met Chief Minister Narendra Modi and officers concerned in this regard. In February 2007, it submitted a memorandum to Governor Naval Kishore Sharma. But all of it went in vain with a cryptic reply from the state government that “the matter is under consideration”.

Bhatt and vice-president Amrutbhai Modh said there were three reasons for demanding a municipal corporation for Gandhinagar. The state capital can get the benefit of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) like other municipal corporations.

Gandhinagar being a ‘C’ category city can get 80 per cent of the cost for development projects under JNNURM as against 35 per cent for Ahmedabad, and 50 per cent for Vadodara and other cities. Second, it can expand its geographical boundaries by incorporating the nearby villages. Third, civic amenities would also improve.