JUDGMENT :

Chakradhari Sharan Singh, J.

The Urban Development and Housing Department, Government of Bihar, through its notification dated 03.03.2021, issued under Section 6 of the Bihar Municipal Act, 2007 has costituted Singhiya Nagar Panchayat by including Gram Panchayat Singhiya-I (part), Singhiya-II, and Singhiya III in the district of Samastipur, within its area. The said notification is under challenge in the present writ application filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India by the petitioners who are residents of village Singhiya. It is the petitioners’ case that the said notification does not fulfill the statutory requirement of the proviso to sub-section (1) of Section 11 of the Bihar Panchayat Raj Act, 2006 (Panchayat Raj Act, for brevity) read with the provisions contained under Article 243 Q(2) of the Constitution and Section 3(1) of the Bihar Municipal Act, 2007 (Municipal Act, for brevity).

2. It has been asserted in the writ petition that Section 3(1) of the Municipal Act empowers the State Government to declare its intention to constitute a municipal area, but after making such enquiry, as it may deem fit, having regard to the population of any urban area, d