( 1 ) THE present petition is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India challenging the action of the State Government to constitute Junagadh Municipal Corporation before the tenure/duration of the petitioner No. 1 Municipality is over and that too, without dissolving the Municipality and without giving a reasonable opportunity of hearing to the petitioner No. 1 Municipality. During the pendency of this petition, the petitioner has also moved draft amendment whereby the petitioner has prayed for quashing and setting aside the Notification No. KV-125/02/mna/1001-CMR-41 (i)P dtd. 13. 09. 2002 constituting the Municipal Corporation for the city of Junagadh and appointing the Collector as an Administrator of the Municipal Corporation.

( 2 ) THE petitioner has further prayed for quashing and setting aside the Notification dtd. 16. 12. 2002 whereby the Administrator was directed to exercise all the powers and perform all the functions and duties of the authorities referred to in Items (i) to (iv) of Sub-paragraph (a) of Paragraph 22 in Part IV of Appendix IV to the B. P. M. C. Act during and from the period of his appointment i. e. 15. 09. 2002 as Administrator and Municipal Commissioner.

( 3 ) IN C. A. No. 6110/2003 the petitioner has sought direction from this Court to the respondent authorities to restrain Shri R. K. Pathak, IAS, to work as an Administrator and Municipal Commissioner of Junagadh Municipal Corporation with effect from 14. 09. 2003 by staying further execution operation and implementation of the Notification dtd. 13. 09. 2002.

( 4 ) THE brief facts giving rise to the present petition are that the petitioner No. 1 is a Municipality duly constituted under the Provisions of the Gujarat Municipalities Act, 1963. The petitioner Municipality was having a duly elected body for the period of five years and the tenure of that body expires in 2005. The Taluka Development Officer, Junagadh has sent letters on 01. 04. 2002 to 8 Gram Panchayats calling upon them to pass necessary resolutions regarding their inclination of inclusion of their respective Gram Panchayats in the proposed Municipal Corporation for the city of Junagadh. All the Panchayats have unanimously passed resolution on or around 05. 04. 2002 expressing their displeasure and objection to any proposed inclusion into the proposed Municipal Corporation limits. Some of the Gram Panchayats apprehended that the Corporation would be constituted, have preferred S. C. A. No. 4714/2002 before this Court and the same came to be disposed of by this Court (Coram :- M. S. Shah, J.) on 10. 05. 2002 directing that the representation dtd. 05. 04. 2002 made by the said Gram Panchayats shall be considered before issuance of any Notification by the State Government for constituting Municipal Corporation for the city of Junagadh.

( 5 ) SO far as petitioner No. 1 Municipality is concerned, the party governing the same, prior to the constitution of Municipal Corporation for the city of Junagadh has got 2/3rd majority in the election and is different from the ruling party in the State and it was apprehended by the said party that the State Government by using and resorting to undemocratic means, was making all attempts to ensure that the present body having majority was undemocratically thrown out. With a view to achieve this object, a show cause notice was issued under Section 263 of the Gujarat Municipalities Act for dissolution of the Municipality. The said Notice was challenged by the Municipality before this Court in S. C. A. No. 6354/2002 which came to be disposed of by an order dtd. 18. 07. 2002 (Coram :- D. A. Mehta, J.) directing the respondent authorities to take into consideration the reply that would be filed by the petitioner on merits and after giving an opportunity of being heard, if so demanded, it would be open to the respondents to pass appropriate order within a reasonable time. It was also made very clear that if any order of supersession is