GOVT OF ASSAM Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) ALL the writ petitions under consideration bear several resemblances which justified analogous consideration thereof by the Court on several dates ending on 10th of January 2008. All the writ petitions were registered suo motu on the basis of communications addressed to the Hon'ble Chief Justice of this Court by public spirited individuals highlighting gross deficiencies in the living conditions available in the premier city of the North East i. e. Guwahati. All the writ petitions under consideration raise common issues of the obligation of the State in this regard and the power of judicial interventions in the matter keeping in mind the availability of judicially acceptable resources. Hence the present attempt to answer all such questions arising in the writ petitions by means of the present common order.

(2.) WP (C) 1200 of 2006 raises questions centering around the construction of multistoried apartments and commercial buildings in the City of Guwahati and the extent of control exercised by the Gauhati municipal Corporation (GMC) and the Guwahati metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) while granting permissions for such constructions as well as the control and supervision exercised, if any, to ensure that the constructions raised conforms to the permissions granted.

(3.) IN WP (C) No. 2238 of 2006 the available civic amenities within the city of guwahati, particularly the provisions for sanitation and drainage, is the prime issue that had arisen for consideration of the court. The public spirited individual at whose instance the said writ petition was registered, one Prof. Deven Dutta, had the misfortune of falling into one of the existing drains in the city of Guwahati through an open manhole. The necessity of providing manhole covers; the feasibility of leaving no drain uncovered and improvement of the conditions of the roads within the city of guwahati are supplementary issues that confronted the Court ori account of unfortunate incident that had occurred in the case of Prof. Dutta.