P. A. CHOUDARY, J.

( 1 ) SIXTEEN Municipalities, some from Andhra and the others from Telangana but all of which have come of age being in existence for several years, financially virile and vibrant, effectively serving the needs of the respective inhabitants, cry cut for help against a common sentence of death passed on them by the Andhra Pradesh State Legislature by means of Section 2 of Act No. 16 of 1979, which reads thus : -"section 2.- In Section 3 of the A. P. Municipalities Act, 1966, for sub-section (7) the following sub-section shall be substituted, nemely :- (7) Notwithstanding anything in this Act or in any judgment decree or order of a Court, Tribunal or other authority, every local area with a population of less than twenty five thousand as at the last census for which a Municipality was constituted or was deemed to have been constituted under this Act shall cease to be such Municipality on and from the commencement of the andhra Pradesh Municipalities and Gram Panchayats (Amendment) act, 1979". The idea of local Self-Government in our modern Constitutional history is firmly planted by Lord Ripon s famous Resolution of 1882. In that resolution of the Governor General in council explained the underlying purposes of setting up of these political institutions in these words :-"it is not primarily, with a view to improvement in Administration that this measure is put forward. It is chiefly desirable as an instrument of political education. As education advances, there is rapidly growing up all over the country an intelligent class of public spirited men whom it is not only bad policy, but sheer waste of power, to fail to utilize. The Governor General in council has no hesitation in stating his conviction that the only reasonable plan open to the Government is to induce the people themselves to undertake, as far as may be, the management of their own affairs; and to develop, or create if need be a capacity for self-help in respect of all matters that have not, for imperial reasons, to be retained in the hands of the representatives of government". This idea has now gained firm foot-hold in our Constitution not only thorugh item 5 of List II of the VII Schedule to the Constitution but also through article 40 which is one of the Directive principles of State Policy It is, therefore, clear that in the scheme of Constitutional values, the institutions of Municipalities like other organs of local Self-Government occupy in our country a pride of place. It, therefore, becomes of this Court s power and privilege to foster and further and uphold that Constitutional culture, particularly against what appears to us to be utterly arbitrary acts of destruction.

( 2 ) THE common sentence of extinction passed on these Munici palities by the State of Andhra Pradesh by the force of the aforesaid section 2 of Act No. 16 of 1979 is based not on the ground that those municipal bodies are not working efficiently today but only on the ground that the population of these Municipalities was less than 25,000 at the time of the last census which was taken in the year 1971. It is somewhat difficult, though not impossible, to see the rationale behind this action of the State. What has the last census figures taken some eight years or nine years back got to do with today s decision to extinguish a flourshing municipality is a question which no person or body of persons of good will ever hope to answer. What is more the present-day population of each of these Municipalities now sentenced to die not only exceeds the 1971 target of 25,000 but their records of service and financial viability are unchallengably excellent Let us look at a few random samples The kovvur Municipality constituted under the old Madras Act No. V. of 1920 has in the year 1979 a population of over 30,000 with Rs. 15 1/2 lakhs of annual income, althcugh it had only 22,300 population in the year 1971. The Nidadavole Municipality constituted under the aforesaid Act no. V of 1920

Click Here to Read the rest of this document