Media Release
Mangaluru, Oct 25: A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed with Karnataka High Court, Bengaluru, by civic groups comprising lead petitioner CIVIC Bangalore with Mangalore Civic Group as a co-petitioner seeking uniform and more effective guidelines for constituting Ward Committees and Area Sabhas statewide. The PIL was filed before the high court of Karnataka, Bengaluru on September 24, 2021, by a consortium comprising civic organizations and individuals from seven of the eleven cities across Karnataka.
With Kathyayini Chamaraj of CIVIC Bangalore, Bengaluru as the lead petitioner, the co-petitioners are from Nagarika Shakti, Bengaluru led by Narendra Kumar, Mangalore Civic Group, Mangaluru led by Nigel Albuquerque and Ajoy D’Silva, Jagruta Nagarikara Vedike, Mysuru, Janapara Seva Sansthe, Belagavi, and Karnataka Ward Samiti Vedike members from Kalaburagi, Ballari, and Hubballi-Dharwad.
After preliminary scrutiny, the Karnataka High Court has subsequently accepted the Petition and served notices to all the Respondents—the Karnataka State Government, the Urban Development Department, the principal secretary, Urban Development Department, the director, directorate of Municipal Administration, and the commissioners of the eleven Municipal Corporations (inclusive of BBMP) of the State of Karnataka. The court has also issued notice to the respondents to hand over the complete set of documents to the learned Government Advocate to enable him to seek instructions and to file a statement of objections.
The 74th Indian Constitutional Amendment Act of1993 and the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) of 2005 have mandated ‘institutionalizing citizen participation’ in Urban Local Bodies.
The PIL is based on numerous past representations made to the government by the various civic groups of Karnataka seeking uniform and more effective guidelines for the selection of ward committee members and Area Sabha Representatives in the eleven Municipal Corporations of Karnataka. The PIL was necessitated because it has been found that each Municipal Corporation in Karnataka is following its own manner of nominating them. Such nominations were being done arbitrarily, citing different laws. The current practice is inconsistent, illogical, and defeats the purpose of having Ward Committees and Area Sabhas.
The petition highlights the ‘Inequality before Law’, in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution, as introduced by the government by framing different laws for selecting Ward Committee members and Area Sabha Representatives in different cities. It has used the BBMP Act 2020 for a metropolis like Bengaluru, KMC (Amendment) Act 2011 in the other ten municipal corporations of the state, and the Karnataka Municipalities (Amendment) Act 2020 for the smaller cities. The Petition points out that the Karnataka Municipalities (Amendment) Act 2020 is more effective than the KMC (Amendment) Act 2011 and BBMP Act 2020. Therefore, the Petition demands that the KMC (Amendment) Act 2011 and BBMP Act 2020 be amended to make it the same as the Karnataka Municipalities (Amendment) Act 2020 in the matters regarding ‘institutionalizing citizen participation’ in Urban Local Bodies.
The petition also demands that people’s participation structures and methodologies be uniform, transparent, fair, democratic and participatory in all urban local bodies.
The Mangalore Civic Group was formed in 2015 under the erstwhile name ‘MCC Civic Group’ to foster citizen participation in local self-governance.
Citizens who wish to support the cause taken up by the Mangalore Civic Group may contact Mobile No. 7666873534 (Nigel Albuquerque).