JUDGMENT

1. The petitioners have filed the present writ application for quashing the Notification No. 616, dated 18.02.2021, as contained in Annexure P-5, issued under the signature of respondent no. 3, the Joint Secretary, Urban Development and Housing Department, Government of Bihar, whereby the State Government has constituted Baruraj Nagar Panchayat with an area and population of the Gram Panchayat Raj Baruraj East and Gram Panchayat Raj Baruraj West.

2. The petitioner nos. 1 and 2 are the Mukhiyas of Gram Panchayat Raj Baruraj East and Gram Panchayat Raj Baruraj West respectively; whereas the petitioner nos. 3 and 4 are the social workers having interest in the Gram Panchayats.

3. The relevant facts brought on record by the petitioners, in brief, is that the Gram Panchayat Raj Baruraj was in existence since pre-independence and subsequently was divided into two Gram Panchayats, namely, Gram Panchayat Raj Baruraj East and Gram Panchayat Raj Baruraj West, in the year 1978. The last Census in the country was conducted in the year 2011 and for the purpose of population under the Municipal Act, the published figure of 2011 Census only is available and according to the figure of 2011 Census, the total population of the Gram Panchayat Raj Baruraj East and Gram Panchayat Raj Baruraj West is 27064 respectively and total workers in each of the Gram Panchayat Raj Baruraj East and Gram Panchayat Raj Baruraj West is 7901. The total main workers in each of the two Gram Panchayats, i.e. Gram Panchayat Raj Baruraj East and Gram Panchayat Raj Baruraj West, is 5611.

4. Section 3 (1) of the Bihar Municipal Act, 2007 (hereinafter referred to as the 2007 Act'), confers powers upon the State Government for declaring its intention to constitute municipal area and it provides that the State Government may after making such enquiry as it deem fit and having regard to the population of any urban area and other factors mentioned under Section 3 of the 2007 Act, declares its intention to specify such area to be a larger urban area or medium urban area or a transitional area, provided that no such declaration shall be made unless the population, in the case of a transitional areas, i.e. small towns, is 12000 and more but not more than 40000, provided further that the non-agricultural population in such area should be 75% or more.

5. Accordingly, Section 3 of the 2007 Act provides for three classes of municipality, depending upon the population and other factors, the first is larger urban area, the second is the medium urban area and the third is the transitional area, called the Nagar Panchayat. The present case is concerned with the transitional area, called as Nagar Panchayat. Proviso to Section 3 (1) was amended by Bihar Municipal Amendment Ordinance, 2020 (Bihar Ordinance 2 of 2020), in which it has been provided that the marginal workers shall be below 50 % of the total population of workers in such area in all cases. The word 'population' has been defined under Section 2 (74) of the 2007 Act, according to which "population" means the population as ascertained at the last preceding Census of which the relevant figures have been published.

6. The State Government published a draft notification, vide Notification No. 4250, dated 26.12.2020, whereby the State Government notified its intention to constitute Baruraj Nagar Panchayat with an area and population of Gram Panchayat Raj Baruraj East and Gram Panchayat Raj Baruraj West and objections were invited from the affected persons, as contemplated under Section 5 of the 2007 Act. The objections were filed by the residents of the Gram Panchayat Raj Baruraj East and Gram Panchayat Raj Baruraj West, stating therein that 85 % of the population of the said two Gram Panchayats is still depended upon agriculture for the purposes of their survival and 70 % population of the 85 % are still surviving below poverty line, whose houses have been provided under Indira Awas Yojana or Pradhanmantri Awas Yojana.

7. It has