SUO MOTU Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These are matters which relate to Panchayats and Municipalities subjects as referred to in the Constitution of India under heads Panchayats and Municipalities in Part IX and Part IXA of the Constitution. Not to be ignored are the eleventh and the twelfth schedule of the Constitution of India. The court has mentioned these even before and is doing so again.

(2.) The Eleventh and the Twelfth Schedules of the Constitution refer to powers, authority and responsibilities of Panchayats and Municipalities (Article 243G and Article 243W). The Eleventh Schedule contains 29 items and the twelfth Schedule contains 18 items.

(3.) It is an obligation of the Constitution of India on the State, to plan for each of the items which are referred to in the two Schedules. There is no escape from the mandate of the Constitution. Under heading Panchayats and Municipalities, that is, Part IX and IXA of the Constitution, there is a clear intention of the Constitution to make these local bodies institutions of self government. There is no escape from this either. This has to be done. In Bihar, at the time, in context, when the Constitution was amended the Government did notice the provisions of the Constitution as is discernible from Section 22 of the Bihar Panchayat Raj Act, 1993 . This is in refer-once to the Panchayats and their functions under the subject heads referred to in the Eleventh Schedule of the Constitution. Items which are referred to in the Twelfth Schedule find a reference of mediocrity in Section 51B in the Bihar Municipal Act. 1922. Section 51B unlike Section 22 does not refer to details taken from the Twelfth Schedule. The planning on these subjects clearly has to be undertaken as Article 243 ZD stipulates. Planning for a district is to be undertaken by a District Planning Committee. While the court was passing an order on 11 September 2002, in CWJC No. 13190 of 2001, the court was given to understand that District Planning Committees are co-relating and aiding functions of local self government institutions are being put in place. For eight years in Bihar planning through the District Planning Committee (Article 243ZD) was avoided. There seems to be some misunderstanding that planning for Panchayats or for that matter the transitional areas or of Municipalities, that is for rural and urban areas will be taken up separately. This is not so. The reference to the committee as the District Planning Committee (Article 243ZD) in no uncertain terms makes it clear that such committees as part of local self government shall prepare draft development plans and while doing so will have regard to matters of common interest between Panchayats and Municipalities. The Constitution in the context of this Article speaks of integrated development of infrastructure. The Constitution also talks in terms of spatial planning and any constriction of space will be the negation of the mandate of the Constitution. Thus, a habitat must be in accord with "spatial planning" and as an "integrated development of infrastructure.