Rajkot Municipal Corporation can't restrain people from general board meet: PIL

The Gujarat High Court on Wednesday issued a notice to the Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) authorities after public interest litigation (PIL) questioning the civic authority's decision to restrain people from attending the general body meeting of the civic body came up for hearing. The PIL filed by a certain Ashok Patel was taken up by the division bench of Acting Chief Justice AS Dave and Justice Biren Vaishnav, which directed the RMC authorities to file a reply in the matter by January 17.

Notably, the petitioner, who appeared as party-in-person, contended that the public gallery in the meeting hall of RMC where the general body meeting is held has been closed for public access since the past three years. He contended that as per the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporation (BPMC) Act, every general body meeting of the civic body shall be open to the public. However, since the access to the public gallery has been closed, people are unable to attend the general body meeting to ascertain what their elected representatives are doing.

It is the appeal of the petitioner that the high court should direct the RMC authorities to ensure that the public gallery is kept open for citizens to attend the bi-monthly general body meeting of the municipal body. It is also his prayer that the court should impose a fine on 9 officials including RMC commissioner and police commissioner for keeping the gallery closed and restraining them from peacefully protesting against the same. He has also demanded that the entry rules for the general public for the bi-monthly meetings should be modified and made first-come, first serve.

Notably, due to a disturbance created by the supporters of some elected representatives, who were occupying the public gallery, during the general body meeting held on April 18, 2016, the authorities decided to close the public gallery to avoid disturbance in the meeting.