JUDGMENT :

D.K. Upadhyaya, J.

1. Prologue

1.1 It is inclusion not exclusion, equality not inequality and democracy not executive fiat that runs as a common thread throughout our Constitution. In a society as diverse as ours it has been the endeavour of our Constitutional Courts to further strengthen this thread. With this percept in mind, we proceed to consider the issues posed before us in this batch of petitions which raise similar questions of fact and law and hence are being decided by this common judgment which follows:

1.2 Some of these petitions have been filed as Public Interest Litigation and some of them raise the alleged personal grievance arising out of a notification dated 05.12.2022 issued by the State Government in the Department of Urban Development which is a draft order in terms of section 9-A (5)(3) of Uttar Pradesh Municipalities Act, 1916 (hereinafter referred to as 'Municipalities Act') inviting objections to the proposed determination of number of offices of the Chairpersons of different Municipal Bodies to be reserved for the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, Backward Classes and Women. Challenge, however, is confined to the proposed determination for providing reservation to the Backward Class of citizens in respect of seats and offices of Chairpersons of these bodies.

1.3 Challenge has also been made to the Government Order dated 12.12.2022 whereby it has been provided that on expiry of the term of various local bodies, the District Magistrates of the respective districts shall authorize operation of bank accounts of such local bodies under the joint signatures of the Executive Officer and the Senior most officer of Uttar Pradesh Nagar Palika Centralized Services (Accounts Cadre). As per the said Government Order, current term of the local bodies is coming to an end on different dates falling between 12.12.2022 and January 31, 2023.

1.4 In one of the petitions, a prayer has been made to direct the State Government to include transgenders in the Backward Class of citizens and to provide them reservation within the reservation which may be available to backward class of citizens in the matter of election to the urban local bodies. The said prayer has been made in the light of the judgment of Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of National Legal Services Authority vs. Union of India and others, rendered on 15.04.2014 in Writ Petition (Civil) No.400 of 2012.

1.5 Preliminary objection as to the maintainability of the writ petitions raised by the State on the ground that the impugned notification dated 05.12.2022 is only a draft order and hence the petitioners will have opportunity to raise their objections before the authority concerned, as such, the petitions are premature, has already been repelled by us vide our order dated 12.12.2022 and for the reasons given therein we have already held the petitions to be maintainable.

2. Facts

2.1 The Parliament by enacting the Constitution (Seventy-fourth) Amendment Act 1992 inserted Part IXA in the Constitution of India w.e.f. 01.06.1993 with the object of incorporating the provisions relating to urban local bodies in the Constitution for empowering such bodies so that these bodies are able to perform effectively as vibrant democratic units of self-government. The Statement of Objects and Reasons for the 74th Constitutional Amendment is as follows:

"STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS

1. In many States local bodies have become weak and ineffective on account of a variety of reasons, including the failure to hold regular elections, prolonged supersession and inadequate devolution of powers and functions. As a result, Urban Local Bodies are not able to perform effectively as vibrant democratic units of self-government.

2. Having regard to these inadequacies, it is considered necessary that provisions relating to Urban Local Bodies are incorporated in the Constitution particularly for-

(i) putting on a firmer footing the relationship between the State Government and the Urban Lo