VISHNUBHAI NATVARLAL PATEL Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition has been filed by eight petitioners who are voters at the elections to Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. Notification dated March 20 1980 issued by the Government of Gujarat is challenged by them. It relates to the division of two existing wards and the reallocation of seats to them.

(2.) Under sub-sec. (2) of sec. 5 of the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporations Act 1949 the State Government has got the authority to decide how many councillors shall be elected from each of the election wards. Under sub-sec. (3) of sec. 5 the State Government has the power to specify the number and boundaries of the wards into which the city shall be divided for the purpose of election of the councillors and to determine the number of councillors to be elected from each ward.

(3.) What the State Government by issuing the impugned notification has done is as follows. The Municipal Corporation shall consist of 105 councillors elected at ward elections. Secondly it has specified 36 wards into which the city of Ahmedabad shall be divided for the purpose of ward elections of councillors and has defined boundaries of each ward. Thirdly it has specified number of councillors to be elected from each ward. Fourthly it has provided for reservation of seats for the scheduled castes as well as for the scheduled tribes. It is a common ground between the parties that except dividing the Wadaj ward into Wadaj East and Wadaj West and Paldi ward into Paldi East and Paldi West no other change has been effected in the constitution of the election wards. In other words other wards remain as they were at the last general elections to the Municipal Corporation which were held in December 1975. Another change which the State Government has made is to allocate three seats to Wadaj East and two seats to Wadaj West totalling at five as against six (including one reserved for scheduled castes) which were allocated to the composite Wadaj ward earlier. This one seat which has been taken away from the two Wadaj wards now which earlier constituted one Wadaj ward appears to have been added to Gandhigram ward which earlier had four seats allocated to it as against five now. These two changes which have been effected by the impugned notification are challenged by the petitioners in this petition.