IMPORTANT POINT
The amendment to the Chhattisgarh Municipalities Act, enhancing local governance and reducing executive interference, was upheld as constitutional and not manifestly arbitrary.

ORDER :

1. The present petition has been filed challenging the constitutional validity of Sections 43, 43-A and 47 of the Chhattisgarh Municipalities (Amendment) Act, 2019, which is evident from S. No. 13, 14 & 15, respectively of the amendment dated 12/12/2019, by which the State Government has added the word “President” in Sections 43 & 43-A and omitted Section 47 of the original Chhattisgarh Municipalities Act, 1961. The erstwhile provision of now omitted Section 47 provides a detailed procedure for conducting enquiry before removal of a President from the office.

2. Sections 43 & 43-A which stood after amendment reads as under:

43. Election and term of [the President and] Vice-President:

(1) The State Election Commission shall cause the election of President and Vice-President immediately after every election of Municipal Council and Nagar Parishad in such manner as may be prescribed. The elected members of the Council shall elect a President and a Vice-President in the prescribed manner, from elected members in its first meeting as specified in Section 55.

(2) The meeting under sub-section (1) shall be presided over by such officer as mentioned in sub-section (2) of Section 55.

(3) The term of the [the President and] Vice-President shall be conterminous with the term of the Council.

43-A. No-confidence motion against [the President and] Vice President:

(1) A motion of no-confidence may be moved against [the President and] Vice-President by any elected Councillor at a meeting specially convened for the purpose under sub-section (2) and if the motion, is carried by a majority of two thirds of the elected Councillors present and voting in the meeting and if such majority is more than half of the total number of elected Councillors constituting the Council, the office of the [the President and] Vice President, shall be deemed to have become vacant forthwith. A copy of such motion shall be sent by the Chief Municipal Officer to the Collector forthwith for filling up the vacancy:

Provided that no such resolution shall lie against the [the President and] Vice-President within a period of:

(i) two years from the date on which the [the President and] Vice-President enters upon his office.

(ii) one year from the date on which the previous motion of no-confidence was rejected.

(2) For the purpose of sub-section (1), a meeting of the Council shall be convened and presided over by the Collector or a Class-I Officer in case of a Municipal Council and a Class II Officer in case of Nagar Panchayat as nominated by him, in the following manner, namely:

(i) the meeting shall be convened forthwith on a requisition signed by not less than one-sixth of the total number of elected Councillors constituting the Council for the time being.

(ii) the notice of such a meeting specifying the date, time and place shall be despatched to the [President, Vice-President] and every Councillor ten clear days before the meeting.

(iii) the no-confidence motion moved under this Section shall be decided through secret ballot.

3. Submission of the petitioner is that the State Government by notification dated 12/12/2019 amended few sections of the Municipalities Act, 1961. The petitioner was an elected President of Nagar Panchayat, Gandai. The President-in-Council of Nagar Panchayat, Gandai vide resolution No. 5 permitted one Sanjay Agrawal to construct an extension of 01 meter over the alleged shop to him. The CMO, Nagar Panchayat, Gandai on 28/01/2022 tried to demolish the aforesaid structure, which, in turn, was resisted by the petitioner, which led to filing of FIR.

4. Subsequent to it, the no confidence motion was moved by the councilors on 07/03/2022 vide Annexure P/7 on different grounds that the petitioner did not take interest in the council work for last four months. Pursuant thereto, the Collector issued notice of meeting under Section 43-A of the C.G. Municipalities Act, 1961 vide Annexure P/1. It is the allegation of the petitioner that without due verification of pro