The Indian Express                23.04.2013

HC asks JMC body to provide amenities to 2 lakh people off its limits

Gujarat High Court (HC) Monday ordered the Jamnagar Municipal Corporation (JMC) to provide basic civic amenities to around 2 lakh people living in the vicinity of the corporation. The area, however, does not fall under the JMC limits. The court has also ordered the state government's Urban Development Department to take a decision on whether it wants to include these people under a new nagarpalika or merge them with the JMC within four weeks.

The court passed the judgment while acting on a public interest litigation (PIL) by a local resident of Jamnagar and member of Jamnagar District Panchayat, Kasam Khati.

Senior counsel B B Naik who appeared as Khati's lawyer before a division bench of HC, said that there were certain gram panchayats outside the limits of JMC before 2003-04. However, some of them were merged with the JMC in 2003-04 and some were left out.

They were called Nagar Sim areas and were deprived of basic civic amenities like drinking water, street light, roads and sanitation. Until 2010-11, there was no registration of deaths and births in these areas. Several representations in this regard before the authorities were not heard. "The Jamnagar Urban Development Authority had written to the Urban Development Department in this regard. But no action was taken by the state government," Naik said. Following this, the petitioner lodged the PIL.