The court ruled that the Ordinance dissolving elected municipal bodies without legislative consent violates constitutional provisions, affirming the principle that municipalities must continue until legally dissolved.

1. By these petitions under Art.226 of the Constitution the Petitioners who are either Presidents or Chairmen of different local bodies in the State of Uttar Pradesh, pray for striking down the Ordinance known as U.P. Municipalities, Notified Areas and Town Areas (Alp - Kalik Vyavastha) Adhyadesh 1994 being U.P. Ordinance No. 3 of 1994 promulgated by the Governor of Uttar Pradesh in exercise of powers under Art.213 of the Constitution as being unconstitutional, the relevant provisions of which are extracted below:
"1. This Ordinance may be called the Uttar Pradesh Municipalities, Notified Areas and Town Areas (Alpkalik Vyavastha) Adhyadesh, 1994.
2. With effect from the 19th day of January, 1994, the provisions of the U.P. Municipalities Act , 1916 (U.P. Act No. 2 of 1916), hereinafter in this section referred to as the said Act, shall until May 31, 1994 or until the Constitution of the Municipal Boards under the provision of the said Act, whichever is earlier, have effect in relation to the Municipalities specified in Schedule I subject to the following provisions, namely -
(a) notwithstanding anything in the said Act, all members of the Municipal Board including the President shall cease to hold their respective offices:
(b) all powers, functions and duties of the Municipal Board, its President and Committees shall be vested in and be exercised, performed and discharged by the District Magistrate and the District Magistrate (including the person or authority to whom the district Magistrate delegates his powers under sub-section (2) of S.4 shall be deemed to be the Municipal Board, its President of the Committee concerned as the occasion may require."

2. Before we take up the argument of the learned counsel for the parties, it is necessary to notice the brief facts giving rise to these petitions. In Writ Petition No. 1228 of 1994, the petitioner is the President of Municipal Board, Aliganj, district Etah constituted and established under the U.P. Municipalities Act (hereinafter referred to as the Act). The petitioners in Writ Petition No. 4661 of 1994 and Writ Petition No. 1482 of 1994 are the President of City Board, Jaunpur and Municipal Board, Bilsi respectively. Petitioner in Writ Petition No. 1225 of 1994 is the Chairman of the Town Area Committee Purdilnagar, Aligarh constituted and established under the U.P. Town Areas Act. The Municipal Board and the Town Areas Act of which the petitioners are either President or Chairman, were constituted in Nov. / Dec. 1988 for a term of five years. On expiry of five years the State Government by notification dated 19th of Oct. 1993, in exercise of powers under the proviso to sub-section (1) of S.10A of the Act extended the term of the Municipal Boards for a period of six months or till the next general election whichever is earlier.

3. Admittedly, during the extended term of six months the impugned Ordinance promulgated by the Governor of Uttar Pradesh has dissolved 626 local bodies (Municipal Boards, Notified Areas and Town Areas) including the Municipalities and the town areas of which the petitioners are either President or Chairman and in the place of the elected representatives, the impugned Ordinance directs the respective District Magistrates to exercise the powers of the Board. It is at this stage, the petitioners have knocked the doors of this Court by means of these writ petitions under Art.226 of the Constitution.

4. We have heard Sarvsri K. N. Tripathi, R. K. Jain, Sudhir Chandra, Senior Advocates and Sarvsri R. H. Zaidi, S. K. Viddyarthi and D. Dwivedi, counsel for the Petitioners and Sri Rakesh Dwivedi learned Additional Advoca