Nainital, December 21
In a dramatic development, the Uttarakhand High Court has reverted the order given by a single Bench on December 15 and has ordered that the Municipal Corporations will come into being in Haridwar and Haldwani.

A division Bench of the court comprising Chief Justice Barin Ghosh and Justice UC Dhyani set aside the order pronounced by Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia on December 15 calling for the restoration of the municipal boards at the two places.

Ironically, the elected representatives of the municipal boards at Haridwar and Haldwani had once again taken charge over the past two days amid much fanfare.

Not accepting defeat on the issue of upgrading the local municipal bodies at Haldwani and Haridwar, the state government had filed a special appeal against the order given by Justice Dhulia on Monday afternoon. The appeal had been admitted and the hearings were held on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Talking to mediapersons here this afternoon, Advocate-General SN Babulkar said: “The court has accepted the appeal made by the government. The Municipal Corporations will come into existence in Haldwani and Hardwar. The court has set aside the order of the single Bench.”

When asked about the reasons for the court reverting the orders of the single Bench, he said the detailed judgment was awaited. During the hearing over the past two days, the government had conveyed that the decision to upgrade the two municipal bodies had been taken in view of the increasing population in these towns. It was also stated that the government can upgrade the status of municipal bodies.

The counsel for the elected representatives of the two bodies had failed to convince the court over their objections against the government’s move.

In its decision, the Bench of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia had stated that the government’s move to upgrade the two boards had been “unconstitutional”. It had ordered that the notification in the regard be struck down.

The case ended in the High Court following many twists and turns that were witnessed over the past six months. It was in the month of May that the government led by Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank had decided to convert the two boards into corporations. This had been opposed by the elected representatives stating that the government could not do away with the elected bodies in such a manner and that too without any consultation with the elected representatives.

A petition in this regard had been filed with a single Bench of the High Court cancelling the notification with regard to the constitution of the MCs on June 9 this year. This was followed by the state government filing a special appeal that had led to a division Bench granting a 15-day stay on the initial order of the court while upholding the same.

Meanwhile, the government had on June 29 scheduled a hearing of the public, the chairpersons of the boards and the members, which had once again been opposed by the petitioners who had claimed that the government had no right to call a public hearing. Upholding the contentions of the petitioners, the single Bench had on December 15 done away with the government’s move to accord the status of corporations to the the two boards.

Haridwar, December 21
With a stay on the Nainital High Court’s order of reinstating of the Haridwar Municipal Committee given a week ago, today the faces of municipal committee members were once dejected.

As just a day ago the municipal chairman Kamal Johra had taken charge with District Magistrate R Senthyl Pendiyan resigning as city administrator of the municipal corporation.

Municipal chairman Kamal Johra said that as it was a court decision, it would not be appropriate to comment on this matter, but added that he will take this matter to the Supreme Court to get justice.

He again alleged that Urban Development Minister Madan Kaushik was creating hurdles in the municipal committee’s working.

Mixed reactions from citizens summed up the change of guard from municipal committee to municipal corporation, which has happened thrice in just six months.

Former municipal chairman Satpal Brahamchari pointed out that the change in guard of the city’s municipal institution was having a negative impact on the development of the city and attributed the corporation status as just a “political gimmick” by the then Nishank-led state BJP Government.

Additional administrator of the municipal corporation Jyoti Yadav said that as they had not received the written order officially, the charge had not yet been taken.

Dehradun December 21
Ever since the demolition drive has been suspended on the Chakrata road, the focus has shifted towards the new shopping complex at Clock Tower, where chaos and panic loomed large all over the place. Some people were seen holding a protest with banners, others talked at length with officers. Some, congregating in large groups, slammed the state government for its “confused” approach on this sensitive issue. Traders, who could not bear the losses any more, began selling eatables outside the complex itself.

Madhu Chawla, who runs a South Indian food outlets, was aghast at the confusion prevailing in the demarcation of the area of the shops. Showing her new allotted shop, she said: “It is weird that I was given the middle portion of two shops, for which I had to break the middle wall. But the very next day, I was given some other measurement. This way five new measurements have been given in the last three days now. MDDA officials have asked me once again to wait for the next 36 hours for a final demarcation.”

She complained of lack of water lines in the premises, which is of paramount importance to her food

outlet. “We suffered two days without electricity at our home on the Chakrata road. This new shop is not ready and we have stored material of our shop at our neighbor’s place. A lot of our readymade stuff had to be thrown in the drain, as we were informed just 8 hours before the demolition drive,” she said.

Swarnlata, house owner, said she was not ready to shift to new flats provided by the MDDA for relocation for its small size. “I cannot accept a flat of 44 ft in exchange of my house of 65 ft. I need two such flats to accommodate my family of 11 persons,” she said.

Shopkeepers began selling Chinese food outside complex, alleging that they could no longer wait to get new shops, as the matter had got delayed due to wrong demarcations. A bakery owner said he would also do likewise tomorrow.

Gurmeet Sethi, the lady who has become resolute after getting support from the Sikh fraternity over demanding first front shop as was allotted earlier, said: “MDDA officials came in the morning to remove banners of protest from my shop and threw us but after we resisted vehemently, they went away. For the last two days, we are sleeping in this vacant shop.”

The influential people need not to bother as their interests are well safeguarded. Work in two shops allotted to Kumar Sweets was proceeding peacefully, despite the mayhem existing all around.

On Chakrata road, the traffic began moving to and fro in the morning, which was directed to one way because of the demolition in the Hanuman temple on the road on the left side. Some of the shopkeepers were seen packing their articles silently, without any commotion on the site.

Dehradun, December 21
The Uttarakhand Twenty20 Cricket Association launched its website at its Doon Apartment office in Dehradun today.

Launching the website, Rajpur MLA Ganesh Joshi said the website would give much-needed publicity to Uttarakhand cricket in the country.

He appreciated the activities of the Uttarakhand Twenty20 Cricket Association towards the promotion of the game in the state.

Sahaspur MLA Rajkumar said 20Twenty cricket was a big hit with the people as it involved quick results. Institute of Management Education chairman Har Prasad Gupta disclosed that the IME in association with the Uttarakhand 20Twenty Cricket Association would be organizing IME 20Twenty Cricket Tournament from January 15 to January 22. He said the matches of the tournament would be telecast live by DD Sports.

The association’s president Pradeep Singh Raghav and general secretary Jawed Bhat were among those present at the ceremony.

The website includes activities of the association prominently including the details of tournaments organised by the association.