By the Court.—In all these connected writ petitions filed by the then Chairpersons and the Presidents of Municipal Corporations and Nagar Palika Parishads of Allahabad, Rampur and Saharanpur, with the intervention of the present Chairperson, Allahabad Municipal Corporation, Allahabad, they have prayed for writ of mandamus to strike down the U.P. Urban Planning and Development Act, 1973 (in short the U.P. Act of 1973); to dissolve various Development Authorities in the State of U.P. established under the Act; commanding the State Government to place material before the Court to show-cause as to whether any Development Authority has substantially achieved the objects of the Act; to declare the provisions of Section 112-A of the U.P. Municipal Corporation Act, 1959 (the U.P. Act of 1959); Section 69 B of the U.P. Municipal Act, 1916 (the U.P. Act of 1916) and U.P. Palika (Centralised) Service Rules, 1966 to be ultra vires the Constitution of India; to declare Section 3 (2) (b) of the U.P. Municipalities Act to be ultra vires the Constitution of India as being violative of Article 243-Q of the Constitution of India and for other consequential reliefs.

2. The writ petitions were argued by Shri Ravi Kiran Jain assisted by Shri R.K. Awasthi and Shri Deeba Siddiqui at length. Shri C.B. Yadav, Additional Advocate General (AAG), U.P. assisted by Shri Shashank Shekhar Singh, Additional Chief Standing Counsel, High Court appeared for the State of U.P.

3. The intervention of Mrs. Abhilasha Gupta, the present Mayor of Nagar Nigam, Allahabad represented by Shri Ravi Kiran Jain was allowed.

4. The constitutional validity of the Act had been challenged mainly on the ground that the U.P. Act of 1973 and the provisions of the U.P. Act of 1959 are violative of provisions of Part IX and Part IX A of the Constitution of India. The U.P. Act of 1973 was enacted as a temporary Act of which purpose has been substantially achieved much before the enforcement of the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Act. The U.P. Act of 1973 gives powers to the State Government to declare an area to be development area, constituting large number of Development Authorities indiscriminately. The drastic powers conceded by the Act to the State Government to acquire land for such authorities under Section 17 of the Act of 1973 has resulted into unsustainable development of these notified development areas. The Development Authorities established under the temporary enactment, have not achieved the purpose for which they were established and in any case a temporary Act should not have been allowed to continue for such a long period of time and should have been repealed some time in early 1980s and in any case in early 1990s of the last century.

5. Shri Jain submits that the Development Authorities are constituted without any democratic structure with representation and participation of the people in its governing bodies. They have lost its purpose after enactment of the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts. The twenty seven Development Authorities so far constituted in the State of U.P. under the U.P. Act of 1973 have not allowed the panchayats, municipalities and district planning committees to function effectively. They have not allowed the development with the participation of the people. The State sponsored development of the local areas without local representation has stopped the growth and prosperity perceived by the local self Government of the areas in which such Development Authorities have been constituted including Allahabad, Rampur and Saharanpur for which the writ petitions have been filed. They have not allowed the development by way of an alternative model of development adopting different technology suited for different regions.

6. It is submitted that due to the composition of the Development Authorities, provided under Section 4 (3) of the Act read with Section 17, 20 and 21 of the Act, the vested interest in the society has monopolized