Gujarat High Court orders elected civic body for Gandhinagar

The state capital Gandhinagar will have its own elected civic body. The Gujarat High Court has ordered the state government to give Gandhinagar a Municipal Corporation status within next six months.

A citizen’s group ‘Gandhinagar Shaher Jagruk Nagrik Parishad’ filed the PIL last year seeking directions to the state government to assign the city corporation status, where an elected person could manage civic affairs. The petition filed by advocate Jayant Bhatt contended that with the 74th Constitutional amendment in 1993, Article 243Q makes it a constitutional mandate for the government to grant municipality or municipal corporation status to urban areas.

“With the amendment in the Constitution and introduction of Gujarat Municipality Act, the Gandhinagar Notified Area Committee automatically becomes defunct. But the government continued with it despite repeated representations. There was a proposal presented by the chief secretary in 2006 in this regard,” Bhatt said.

During the course of hearing, it was argued that the Gandhinagar Urban Development Authority (GUDA) had been formed; therefore this is a large urban area which deserves a municipal corporation status.

However, last month a citizen Babu Patel filed an application objecting the demand for an elected civic body. He argued that various departments managed the civic affairs and people were happy with the present administration. He contended that municipal corporation would mean higher property tax for residents.

The government had from the beginning opposed this PIL stating that there is no need to give status of corporation to the state capital.