SAIJ GRAM PANCHAYAT Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioners - Saij Gram Panchayat, its Sarpanch and elected members - in all 14 in number, have challenged Notification issued by the State Government on 7-9-1993, declaring Kalol (Mehsana) industrial estate as industrial area under S.16 of the Gujarat Industrial Development Act, 1962 (hereinafter referred to as the G.I.D. Act).

(2.) In Special Civil Application Nos. 6653 and 6739 of 1997 notification issued by the State Government under S.16 of the G.I.D. Act constituting Vithal Udyognagar Industrial Area (Additional), was questioned. By judgment dated 21-11-1997 a Division Bench of this Court, to which one of us (K. Sreedharan, C. J.) was a party, upheld the notification. The questions raised in those Writ petitions were identical to the one raised in this petition as well but according to the learned Counsel representing the petitioners herein, the impact of Seventy-third and Seventyfourth Amendments to the Constitution, on S.16 of the G.I.D. Act was not considered in that decision and, therefore, a full-fledged hearing should be had in this petition. In deference to his request we heard him at length. We are not in a position to find out any justifiable reason for differing from the view expressed by this Court in the abovementioned petitions. Even so we proceed to express our views on the arguments advanced by the learned Counsel representing the petitioners.

(3.) The argument is that Part IX of the Constitution defines "Panchayat" and "Panchayat area" in contradistinction to "Metropolitan area" and "Municipal area" as dealt with in Part IXA of the Constitution. Panchayats are to be local bodies in the rural areas. Administration of such areas after being vested in the persons chosen by direct election from the territorial constitutency are not to be changed to the Municipality coming within the purview of Part IXA of the Constitution. The Municipalities in Part IXA of the Constitution, may be a Nagar Panchayat, a name given to the transitional area or Municipal Council for a smaller urban area or a Municipal Corporation for a larger urban area. Any one of these three can be changed to an industrial township. That can be done invoking the provisions contained in proviso to Art.243Q of the Constitution. Since the area, to begin with, was not a transitional area, a Municipal Borough or a Municipal Corporation, no industrial township can be created. In other words, the argument is that under no circumstances any portion of a Panchayat can be declared as an industrial area or industrial township. If the Government declares any area comprising within a Panchayat, which is a rural area, and constitutes an industrial township it will be in violation of the provisions contained in Art.243Q of the Constitution. So invalid.