IMPORTANT POINT
The court established that the State Government's consideration of objections under the Assam Municipal Corporation Act, 2022 was sufficient and compliant with legal requirements.

JUDGMENT :

Heard Mr. H. R. A. Choudhury, the learned Senior counsel assisted by Mr. F. U. Barbhuiya, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Petitioners in the instant batch of writ petitions. I have also heard Mr. D. Saikia, the learned Advocate General, Assam assisted by Mr. D. Nath, the learned Senior Government Advocate appearing on behalf of the State of Assam and the other Respondents.

2. In the instant batch of writ petitions, the Petitioners herein have assailed the Notification dated 28.11.2022 issued by the Commissioner and Secretary to the Government of Assam, Department of Housing and Urban Affairs whereby the final notification was issued under Sub-Section (5) of Section 3 of the Assam Municipal Corporation Act, 2022 (for short ‘the Act of 2022’) to constitute the Silchar Municipal Corporation with wards with boundary marks annexed as Annexure-A along with a map as Annexure-B.

3. The issue involved in the instant batch of writ petitions is a legal issue as to whether the consideration of the objections in terms of Section 3 of the Act of 2022 have been done in accordance with the provisions of the said Act of 2022. The grievance of the Petitioners as have been submitted by the learned Senior counsel appearing on behalf of the Petitioners is that the objections which were submitted by the Petitioners have been perfunctorily disposed of without showing that there has been any consideration. In addition to that, the learned Senior counsel appearing on behalf of the Petitioners have also submitted that in terms of Section 3(4) of the Act of 2022, it is only the State Government who is to decide such objections and not by the Deputy Commissioner and in the instant case it would be seen from the enclosure to the affidavit-in-opposition i.e. the communication dated 04.11.2022 issued by the Deputy Commissioner that the consideration and the decision was made by the Deputy Commissioner and the State Government did not further make any endeavor to make any further consideration.

4. To decide the questions which have been raised in the instant batch of writ petitions, this Court finds it very pertinent to take note of certain relevant provisions of the Constitution as well as the provisions of the Act of 2022.

5. Part IXA was inserted to the Constitution by the Constitution (Seventy-Fourth Amendment) Act 1992 w.e.f. 01.06.1993. In terms of the said Part, the Municipalities were granted a constitutional status. Article 243Q of the Constitution stipulates as to how the municipalities could be constituted. The said Article 243Q being relevant for the purpose of the instant dispute is reproduced herein under:

“243Q. Constitution of Municipalities.—(1) There shall be constituted in every State,-

(a) a Nagar Panchayat (by whatever name called) for a transitional area, that is to say, an area in transition from a rural area to an urban area;

(b) a Municipal Council for a smaller urban area; and

(c) a Municipal Corporation for a larger urban area, in accordance with the provisions of this Part:

Provided that a Municipality under this clause may not be constituted in such urban area or part thereof as the Governor may, having regard to the size of the area and the municipal services being provided or proposed to be provided by an industrial establishment in that area and such other factors as he may deem fit, by public notification, specify to be an industrial township.

(2) In this article, “a transitional area”, “a smaller urban area” or “a larger urban area” means such area as the Governor may, having regard to the population of the area, the density of the population therein, the revenue generated for local administration, the percentage of employment in non-agricultural activities, the economic importance or such other factors as he may deem fit, specify by public notification for the purposes of this Part.”

6. From a perusal of the above quoted Article, it would be seen that Sub-Article (2) of Article 243Q of the Constitution provid