The District Magistrate's authority to interfere with Nagar Palika matters is limited to public safety concerns under Section 34 of the U.P. Municipalities Act, 1916.

JUDGMENT :

J.J. Munir, J.

1. The District Magistrate of the district is not the Master of all that he/she surveys. But, this case, in the company of a variety of contemporary experience, tends to show that the District Magistrate acts that way. In a government, functioning under the Constitution and the laws, there is a division and consequential limitation on authority, which in this case seems not to be there on the functioning of the District Magistrate of Hapur. The District Magistrate, seems to have acted in the way he has done and a successor in office, despite being called upon to justify the exercise of an ultra vires authority, has attempted to support it because, conventionally not only the ordinary citizen, but independent officers of other departments of the Government or even independent bodies of local self-governance established by the Constitution, pay habitual obedience to the District Magistrate. This phenomena is a surviving relic of the colonial era when the District Magistrate and the Collector was the Government's representative at the district headquarters. This ought not to be so any longer.

2. The petitioner, Rajesh Kumar Yadav, is a Zonal Sanitary Officer, currently posted at the Nagar Nigam, Bareilly. He was earlier posted at the Nagar Palika Parishad, Hapur as the Chief Sanitary and Food Inspector until 27.07.2022. While posted at Hapur on the 4th of May, 2022, he was at his residence. He experienced dizziness while using the restroom and collapsed. He was taken to Dr. Jeevottam Narang and the doctor advised an MRI for his spine. The MRI was done and a perusal of the MRI report led the doctor to advise the petitioner to take bed rest. The MRI report dated 04.05.2022 from the Dev Nandini Imaging Centre records the following impressions:

“IMPRESSION

• Broad-based posterior disc bulge at L4-L5 level causing Indentation of the thecal sac bilateral neural foraminal narrowing.

• Mild broad-based disc bulge at L1-L2 and L5-S1 levels without significant neural compression.”

3. The petitioner asserts that he was next examined at a higher centre, to wit, the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi and advised bed rest. In this regard, a letter dated 09.06.2022 was addressed by the petitioner to the Executive Officer, Nagar Palika Parishad Hapur, District Hapur (for short, 'the Nagar Palika), with a request to sanction medical leave for him during the period 09.06.2022 to 23.06.2022. During this period, the petitioner underwent medical treatment and sent applications to the Executive Officer of the Nagar Palika, seeking an extension of his leave up to 26.07.2022. A copy of the application dated 12.07.2022 sent by speed post as well as email to the Executive Officer are on record.

4. On the 27the of July, 2022, the petitioner was once again examined by Dr. Aparna Gupta of the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi, who certified him fit. He was advised to take regular and proper treatment. The petitioner went to his office at the Nagar Palika and submitted a joining report dated 27.07.2022 addressed to the Executive Officer.

5. On the 30th of June, 2022, the Government issued a transfer list for employees, who are members of the Uttar Pradesh Palika (Centralized) Health Service, of which the petitioner is a member. The petitioner's name was shown at serial No.4. He was transferred from the Nagar Palika Parishad, Hapur to the Nagar Nigam, Bareilly. The petitioner was relieved on 30.06.2022 to join his new posting at Bareilly. On the 29th of July, 2022, the petitioner joined the office of the Nagar Nigam, Bareilly, as a Zonal Sanitary Officer, a promotion posting. The petitioner then addressed a memo dated 12.09.2022 to the Executive Officer of the Nagar Palika, Hapur, seeking sanction of medical leave for the period 1st March, 2022 to 10th May, 2022, so that his salary for the relevant period could be drawn. The petitioner says that he personally met the Executive Officer of the Nagar Palika