In what could be considered to be a jolt for the State Government, the High Court of Uttarakhand has cancelled the State Government notification regarding the delimitation of urban local bodies (UlBs) which had resulted in merger of sub-urban and rural areas under Panchayats with UlBs. Delivering its judgement in the case, the single bench of justice Sudhanshu Dhulia said that the Governor and not the Government is authorised to issue the notification. It, further, observed that the process of delimitation cannot be imposed on the public. The high court decision has come as a setback to the delimitation carried out in the UlBs by the State Government in the face of considerable opposition from the public and Panchayat representatives.
It is pertinent to mention here that dozens of people from Dehradun, Pauri, Haridwar, Pithoragarh, Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag, Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar had challenged the delimitation carried out by the State Government in the high court of Uttarakhand.
The petitioners had challenged the notification issued on April 5 this year according to which the Government had given the go-ahead to delimitation in 41 UlBs including municipal corporations, municipalities and Nagar Panchayats. The petitioners had stated that according to the Article 243Q(2) of the Constitution of India, the State Governor is empowered to issue notification regarding delimitation of the local bodies. They, further, stated that the State Government had issued the notification on its own without taking the approval of the Governor.
It was also stated by the petitioners that the delimitation process can be undertaken taking into consideration the social condition, population, statistical and geographical conditions of the villages concerned but these aspects had been ignored by the State Government.
The petitions challenging the delimitation notification had been filed by the Pradhan of Mawakot Gram Sabha near Kotdwar and 35 other Gram Pradhans along with various public representatives. Apart from these petitions, the State Election Commission’s petition seeking intervention of the High Court regarding the UlB elections was also heard by the single bench of justice Dhulia. In this case the court has set May 22 as the next date for hearing.