JUDGMENT :

Chakradhari Sharan Singh, J.

The petitioners have put to challenge, in the present writ application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, a notification contained in Memo No.949 dated 03.02.2021 issued by the Urban Development and Housing Department, Government of Bihar, whereby Udakishunganj Nagar Parishad has been created with the inclusion of four Nagar Panchayats, namely, Lakshmipur, Kishunganj, Rampur Kheda and Rahta Fanhan (East part). Names of the fourteen villages falling in the said Gram Panchayats, which would constitute the Nagar Parishad, have been mentioned in column 3 of the said impugned notification. We must indicate, at the outset, that it has incorrectly been mentioned in the writ petition that the said Nagar Parishad has been created by merging 14 Gram Panchayats.

2. On perusal of the writ application, it can easily be understood that the main ground which has been taken to assail the impugned notification is that the same has been done without issuance of a notification as stipulated under Article 243-Q(2) of the Constitution. The four grounds taken in the writ petition in paragraph 2 center around the requirement of issuance of a notification under Article 243-Q(2) of the Constitution as a condition precedent for constitution of a municipality under the said Article.

3. In paragraph 5 of the writ petition, the petitioners have mentioned the names of the Gram Panchayats, which, according to the petitioners, have been included in the newly constituted Nagar Parishad, Udakishunganj, which also, in our opinion, is an incorrect statement as the said names are the names of the villages mentioned in column 3 of the notification and not the names of the Gram Panchayats.

4. We have heard Mr Rajeev Kumar Singh, learned counsel assisted by Mr Alok Kumar Singh for the petitioners and Mr Shankar Kumar, learned A.C. to AAG-7 for the State of Bihar.

5. Counter affidavits have been filed on behalf of respondents No.2 to 4 and 6 to 9. A rejoinder affidavit has also been filed on behalf of the petitioners to the counter affidavit filed on behalf of the respondents No. 6 to 9.

6. From the pleadings on record, it appears that there are certain facts leading to the issuance of the impugned notification dated 03.02.2021 in the exercise of powers conferred on the State Government under Section 3(1)(a), 4, 5, 6 and 8 of the Bihar Municipal Act, 2007, which are not in dispute. A notification was issued by the State Government on 26.12.2020 declaring its intention to constitute the aforesaid Nagar Parishad as stipulated under Section 3 of the Act, and the said declaration in the form of notification was published in the official gazette and newspapers as stipulated under Section 4 of the Act. Section 5 of the Act permits any inhabitant of the area in respect of which a notification is published under Section 4 of the Act to object to anything contained in the said notification under Section 4 of the Act.

7. Petitioner No.2 is the wife of petitioner No.1. Petitioner No.1 claims to be ex-Mukhiya, and petitioner No.2 Mukhiya of Rahta Fanhan Gram Panchayat. Petitioner No.1 and others had filed an objection against the proposed creation of Udakishunganj Nagar Parishad, apparently under Section 5 of the Act, a copy of which has been brought on record by way of Annexure-5 to the writ application. It was asserted in the objection that from the date of creation of Udakishunganj as a Sub-Division, the Gram Panchayat has been functional in the said Sub-Division. There is one primary health centre and a referral hospital. Even after the creation of the Sub-Division 30 years ago, no bus stand has been located, nor has any basic infrastructure been created. On the point of population, it was asserted in the objection that more than 50 per cent of the inhabitants of all such Panchayats proposed to be included in Nagar Parishad go outside the State to various places, e.g. Punjab, Delhi and Mumbai, for earning their livelihood as labou