Kerala High Court allows non-partisan governed Kizhakkambalam Panchayat to continue district road repairs despite objections from State

In a relief to non-profit-governed Panchayat at Kizhakkambalam in Kerala, the Kerala High Court gave green signal to the Panchayat to undertake road repairs with respect to a district road which had been stalled by the Kerala Public Works Development (PWD). .A single-judge bench of Justice PV Asha allowed the Panchayat to complete the remaining repair work on the road citing public good and invoking fundamental duties under the Constitution. The Court, however, declined to examine the legal question of whether a Panchayat can undertake repairs on roads which are National Highways, State Highways or major district roads.."The work already done cannot be directed to be undone. After all the beneficiaries or victims of good/bad roads are the public at large...I am of the view that the work so far done has to be protected," the Court said granting permission to the Panchayat to complete the remaining work..The Court, however, underscored that it would not be considering the question of whether the Panchayat has the authority to carry out the construction/repairs in question with respect to a district road..Beneficiaries or victims of good/bad roads are the public at large.Kerala High Court.What transpired.The Kizhakkambalam Panchayat is governed by an association viz. Twenty-20, a first-of-its kind project in the country. The association, backed by the corporate house, Kitex is not affiliated to any political party.Naming itself after the year 2020, the association's declared goal is to make Kizhakkambalam the best-run Panchayat in the country by 2020..As part of this aim, the Twenty-20 association has initiated various development works in the Panchayat by adopting a 'Public-Private-Partnership Model'. The association and others in the village have volunteered to allocate funds for the development of the village with the aim of supporting government development work in the area.Accordingly, the association decided to develop and repair certain PWD roads citing the shortage of funds with the government. It, therefore, demarcated its own resources for the same. To this end, the association wrote to PWD's Assistant Engineer and the Assistant Executive Engineer, who in turn intimated the PWD's Executive Engineer about the project..The correspondences took place early this year. .Just after some work commenced towards the repair of roads, the Assistant Engineer informed the President of the Panchayat that some of the work, viz. road widening, tarring etc. had not been sanctioned and that the work had to be kept on hold until sanction was duly obtained. In June, the Assistant Executive Engineer personally wrote to the works contractor ordering a halt on work.Aggrieved, the Panchayat President approached the High Court stating that the work was being carried out for the good of the public and the object was to repair the roads before the monsoon. It was also pointed out that it would help the government as the government would be saved from spending additional resources on the Panchayat..The arguments in Court.In the proceedings before the Court, the State asserted that roads that were not owned by the Panchayat and were worked by the PWD. Hence, it would necessarily have to be repaired by the PWD itself, since it has the required expertise.Importantly, it was contended that a Village Panchayat is not authorized to take over or to stake any claim over a State Highway or a major district road which are under the jurisdiction of PWD. Under the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, a Village Panchayat can have jurisdiction only over those roads which are specifically notified as belonging to the Panchayats, it was submitted. The roads in this case were major district roads, it was pointed out..What the Judgment held.Justice Asha remarked that neither the Panchayat nor anybody else had the authority to undertake work on the PWD Road or any road over which it did not exercise control..However, without delving into the question of whether the Panchayat was empowered to undertake the repairs, the Court declared that any further delays in carrying out repairs would harm public good and therefore, allowed the remaining work to continue.In this regard, the Court invoked fundamental duties under Article 51A. ."For the time being, it can be taken as a step towards performing the fundamental duty of each of those in the Panchayat to individually and collectively, strive towards excellence as provided in Article 51A(j)of the Constitution of India in order to rise to higher levels of endeavor and achievement", the Court said..The judgment said that the only unsanctioned work related to tarring, and this remained incomplete."Now that work came to a stand still since 26.05.2020, any further delay in tarring the road, will result in not only loss to the public to have the benefit of a motorable road but also in waste of money and efforts taken for the same, rightly or wrongly", the court noted in its judgment..It, therefore, granted permission to the Panchayat to complete the remaining work in in two weeks and disposed of the petition. .Advocates Haris Beeran, OA Nuriya, and Ashitha Ria Merin represented the Panchayat President Jincy Aji..Advocate Thomas George, Kizhakambalam Panchayat Standing Counsel appeared for the Panchayat..Advocates Blaze K Jose, Judy Jose, Urmila Zacharia, and KV Manoj Kumar argued for the respondents..[Read the judgment]