ORDER :

Ramesh Sinha, J.

1. The petitioner, who is a practicing Advocate, claims himself to be a known social worker. He has filed the present petition in the representative capacity of the citizens of Bilaspur and Raipur Municipal Corporation seeking for the following reliefs:

“1. That, this Hon’ble Court may kindly be pleased to call for the entire records pertaining to the formation and operation of the Bilaspur Smart City Limited and Raipur Smart City Limited.

2. That, this Hon’ble Court may kindly be pleased to issue an appropriate Writ/Order/Direction to quash the order dated 17.08.2016 F-528/2-16/18, (Annexure P-4) passed by respondent No. 1 constituting Bilaspur Smart City Co. Ltd. And Raipur Smart City Ltd. and in consequence thereof declare all the actions taken in furtherance of the order dated 17.08.2016 as null and void.

3. That, this Hon’ble Court may kindly be pleased to issue an appropriate writ/order/direction to reconstitute the Board of Directors of the Bilaspur Smart City Limited and Raipur Smart City Limited in manner so that at least 50% of the members would come from elected members of the Nagar Palik Nigam Bilaspur and Raipur respectively.

4. That, this Hon’ble Court may kindly be pleased to issue an appropriate writ/order/direction to make Mayor and Speaker as member of the Board of Directors of the Bilaspur Smart City Limited and Raipur Smart City Limited.

5. That, this Hon’ble Court may kindly be pleased to issue an appropriate writ/order/direction to the effect to take post facto approval of all the development works completed by the Bilaspur Smart City Limited and Raipur Smart City Limited since their inception from the concerned elected bodies of the Nagar Palik Nigam as per the prescribed procedure.

6. That, this Hon’ble Court may kindly be pleased to issue an appropriate writ/order/direction to the effect to constitute Ward Committee and Mohalla Samiti in Nagar Nigam of the State.

7. That, this Hon’ble Court may kindly be pleased to issue an appropriate writ/order/direction to the effect to frame rules for constitution, functions, powers and procedures for conduct of business of the Wards Committee.

8. That, this Hon’ble Court may be pleased to pass any other order/relief that this Hon’ble Court may please deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case including grant of cost of the instant litigation.”

2. Challenge in this petition is to the alleged usurpation of powers and authorities of Municipal Corporation Bilaspur and Raipur by the Smart Cities Limited i.e. the Bilaspur Smart City Limited (for short, the BSCL) and the Raipur Smart City Limited (for short, the RSCL) in contravention of the Chhattisgarh Municipal Corporation Act, 1956 as well as Article 243 of the Constitution of India as by the 74th amendment, Constitutional democracy was extended beyond the Parliament and Assembly to Panchayats and Municipalities. By introduction of Smart City Limited, the Special Purpose Vehicle Companies (for short, the SPV) has undermined the elected local bodies and have also usurped their powers and functions.

3. The facts, in brief, as projected by the petitioner are that the Government of India, Department of Housing and Urban Affairs, launched a Smart City Mission (for short, the SCM) to fund different selected cities for standard development. The said mission was to be implemented through SPVs. The respondent No. 1 incorporated BSCL and RSCL as SPVs in September, 2016 to carry out the development and maintenance work in the particular assigned areas of Bilaspur and Raipur Municipal Corporation. Some typical features of comprehensive development in Smart Cities are described as under:

(i) Promoting mixed land use in area- based development— planning for ‘unplanned areas’ containing a range of compatible activities and land uses close to one another in order to make land use more efficient.