SUO MOTU Vs. AHMEDABAD MUNICIPAL CORPORATION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Rule. Service of rule is waived by the learned advocates for the respective respondents. Ahmedabad is a historical city. It was founded by King Ahmed Shah in or around 1411 AD. Originally the city was confined to area within the fort having different gates, the area which is now known as 'walled city', but with the passage of time it has grown rapidly and during last 20 to 30 years the growth is by leaps and bounds. The original city has now become a small portion of the entire city. The growth of the city has embraced in its fold villages which, not very long ago, had their independent identity and entity. They have now merged into the city and some of them have already become posh areas of the city for quite some time such as Navrangpura, Naranpura, Paldi, etc. They are covered under Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation [AMC] Even during recent past many villages like Memnagar, Thaltej, Vejalpur, Ghatlodiya have been taken into its sweep by the rapid growth and the city has expanded in all directions. Though the Municipal Corporation has got sufficiently large area of 190.84 Sq. Kms., under its jurisdiction, the city is not confined to the Corporation limits alone but it has sprawled unto far flung areas in all four directions beyond the Corporation limits. However, the growth on the eastern and western parts of the city is quite noticeable. The civic bodies of the villages in these areas have maintained their independent identity, but the villages have completely intermingled with the recent growth and urban population. It is stated before us that in the Corporation limit itself there are 7.5 lacs houses and 2.5 lacs industrial houses within the jurisdiction of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. This does not include the houses which are part and parcel of the Ahmedabad City but which do not fall within the Corporation limit. This development includes bungalows, tenements, high and low rise apartments, etc. As per the census figure of the year 2001 the population of the city is in the vicinity of 35,20,085. Such rapid and enormous growth of the city and the areas on its periphery are fraught with many problems, but the serious and alarming problems are pertaining to public health, hygiene and sanitation. The civic bodies including the AMC are found hopelessly lacking in solving these problems due to various reasons which will be discussed during the course of this judgment. Their weaknesses and shortcoming get completely exposed during the monsoon and the aftermath of the monsoon. Within first week of the monsoon, the roads start getting flooded with water, the storm-water drainages start overflowing, the open plots get water logged, the undisposed garbage heaps found on the road side start stinking. In all areas within the city and also outside it and also in the areas near railway tracks which are under the jurisdiction of the Western Railway undisposed garbage get soaked in the water causing grave problem to the public health. To add to this misery, even on the eastern periphery of the city there are large number of industrial houses which discharge their effluent in totally unregulated manner in the canal known as Kharikat Canal and other water discharge courses. This effluent gets mingled with the rain water and as a result of that, these water courses also get overflown spreading the dirty, obnoxious and poisonous water in the residential areas posing grave danger not only to the human health but even to the domestic animals. It is pertinent to note at this juncture that this city has been declared as Mega City recently. All these chaotic unhygienic conditions naturally lead to spreading various diseases in the city, some of which are very dangerous causing fatality. Falciparum, Malaria, Jaundice, Hepatitis-B were the diseases already known to the residents of this city since they were falling pray to them for the last many years. However, for the past few years, during monsoon and thereafter the dreaded disease dengue keeps on appearing and it remains for several months causing several casualties and constant fear in the minds of citizens. The unfortunate part of it is that young children of the age group of 1 to 15 years are more prone to be the victims of these diseases. Of course even the adults and aged people have also been afflicted with these diseases, but compared to the number of young children, the number of adults and aged persons is less. "(1) The legislature has enacted

(2.) On the returnable date i.e. 20th July, 2005 the matter was again listed before us for hearing and in response to the notices issued by us, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority [AUDA] and the various Municipalities falling within the jurisdiction of AUDA, have remained present before us. During the course of hearing, several other Government agencies appeared to be necessary parties and, therefore, we issued notices to the National Highway Authority, Manager - Western Railway, etc. On that day, the experts of the Municipal Corporation remained present and apprised the Court about the causes of diseases like dengue, falciparum, etc., the means and ways to tackle and the efforts that were being initiated by the Corporation to curb this menace. We were also informed that a team of experts from National Institute of Virology from Pune had been to City to advise and help the Municipal Corporation to tackle dengue and to bring it under control. However, we thought it necessary to form Committees which could visit various parts of the entire city to have on the spot inspection of the situation prevailing there and to have the places photographed, videographed and to draw necessary panchnama with the aid of polic and to submit detailed report to this Court. We also appointed Mr. J. B. Pardiwala, learned advocate to assist the Court. The Committee visited the areas several times and submitted before us reports of each visit. We will refer to these reports shortly.

(3.) We may now deal with certain legal provisions which relate to the public health and hygiene and the duties cast upon the civic officials to safeguard and take adequate care of them. The Gujarat Municipalities Act, 1963, the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporations Act, 1949 ['BPMC Act']and the Panchayats Act, 1993, contain such provisions. So far the Gujarat Municipalities Act [Municipalities Act ] is concerned, Section 2 (5) defines "dangerous disease". It means cholera, plague, small-pox and any endemic, epidemic or infectious disease by which the life of man is endangered. Section 2 (15) defines "nuisance". It includes any act, omission, place or thing which causes or is likely to cause injury, danger, annoyance or offence to the sense of sight, smelling or hearing, or may be dangerous to life or injurious to health or property. The Municipalities Act also enjoins certain duties on the civic bodies with a view to prevent spread of dangerous disease or causing of nuisance. Chapter VI of the Municipalities Act prescribes functions of the municipalities. Section 87 casts duty on every municipality to make reasonable and. adequate provision for the matters enumerated therein within the limits of the municipal borough. Clause (c) of Section 87 relates to sphere of public health and sanitation. There are different items prescribed under this clause. Sub-clause (f) deals with cleansing public streets, places and sewers, and all spaces, not being private property, which are open to the enjoyment of the public whether such places are vested in the municipality or not, removing noxious vegetation and abating all public nuisances. Sub-clause (h) deals with disposing of night soil and rubbish and if so required by the State Government, preparation of compost manure from such night soil and rubbish. Section 91 of the Municipalities Act deals with discretionary functions of the municipalities. Clause C thereof, deals with public health and public sanitation. Sub-clause (d) of the same, permits a municipality to establish and maintain a farm or factory for the disposal of the sewage. Chapter XI of the Municipalities Act prescribes the powers of the municipalities and also describes the offences. Part (7) of this Chapter deals with the powers of the municipality for the prevention of nuisance and part (10) deals with prevention of dangerous diseases.