UDAY KUMAR Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS matter is about the voids which are at present in the State legislation in not placing the Committee for District Planning (Article 243ZD). That it is not there in accordance with the Constitution of India is not in issue but is accepted.

(2.) NOTICE in this case was issued, as a constitutional exercise had to be gone into, to the Governor of Bihar, and the Chief Minister, Bihar. Notice was also issued to the Advocate General on 24 June, 2004.

(3.) AVOIDING the obligations which have been given in the Constitution for ten years is an insult to the Constitution. Truly, the issue is about hesitation in transferring power to the peoples representatives of the third tier of government. In this regard, the following observations at the Chief Ministers conference on poverty alleviation and Rural Prosperity through Panchyati Raj dated 29 June, 2004. is reproduced: "Our challenge today is to institutionalize this system of local self -government to make lndia not only the worlds largest democracy, but also to make it the worlds most representative and participatory democracy. Much remains to be done however, before we can actually claim to have empowered the elected bodies to function as institutions of local self -government. 37th Report of the Parliaments Standing Committee on Urban and Rural Development tabled in the Parliament in December 2002 gives us an indication of the possibilities that we explore."