Supreme Court issues notice in PIL seeking constitution of Jamshedpur municipality

The Supreme Court has issued notice to the Jharkhand government today, after hearing a petition seeking that a municipality be constituted for the city of Jamshedpur..The Bench of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and Justices DY Chandrachud, and AM Khanwilkar said that the issuance of notice would not come in the way of the state government taking a decision, and that any decision would be subject to the outcome of the PIL..The PIL filed by Jawaharlal Sharma states that the fact that Jamshedpur is being administered by a Notified Area Committee (NAC), is unconstitutional in light of the 74th amendment to the Constitution..The amendment, which was brought about in 1993, deals with the devolution of powers to elected local bodies such as nagar panchayats, municipalities, municipal corporations etc. There is a directive which says that the provision must be enforced within one year..The state government, however, does have the option of declaring an area an industrial township under Article 243Q of the Constitution..The petition states that having an elected body that is directly accountable to the people managing civic affairs, instead of a “bureaucratic industrial establishment” is ideal..Represented by Prashant Bhushan, the petitioner contended that only small areas should be declared industrial townships, and given that Jamshedpur is the largest city in Jharkhand, declaring it a municipality would be logical..The petition also points to a collusion between Tata Steel and the state government, in successfully stymieing the establishment of a municipality, despite several steps being taken in that direction since 1967..According to the petition, steps to initiate the process of consulting stakeholders on the subject of the replacement of the NAC with a municipality were taken several times, to no avail..It is the petitioner’s contention that Tata Steel has been thwarting efforts to initiate self-governance because of its vested interests..“That Respondent Company has been thwarting every attempt to initiate self-governance in Jamshedpur and has been seeking to retain control over its private fiefdom by seeking conversion of the township to an industrial township under private control and governance of Respondent Company.”.Tata Steel was represented by senior counsel Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi..For these reasons, among others, the petitioner has sought a direction from the Court to replace the Jamshedpur NAC by establishing a duly elected municipal body..Read the petition