IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CWJC No.1910 of 2010 INDRAJEET SINGH s/o late Ramashish Singh, resident of village- Basantpatti, P.S. Purnahiya, District- Sheohar. Versus 1. THE STATE OF BIHAR. 2. District Magistrate, Sheohar. 3. Addl. District Magistrate, Sheohar. 4. Anchal Adhikari, Purnahiya, District- Sheohar. 5. Civil Surgeon-cum-Chief Medical Officer, Sheohar. ....Respondents 1st Party. 6. Srinath Prasad Singh alias Nath Prasad Singh, s/o late Tej Narain Singh, resident of village- Sonaul Sultan, P.S. Purnahiya, District- Sheohar. ....Respondent 2nd Party. ----------- For the Petitioner : Mr. Yogendra Mishra and Mr. Raghunath Kumar. For the respondents : Mr. Rajendra Singh, Sr.Adv and Mr. Rajeev Kr. Singh For the State : G.P.11 4 15.4.2010 This writ petition relates to a dispute in regard to the place where Primary Health Centre, allocated for Purnahiya Block in Sheohar district, is to be located. Primarily this is an administrative function where this Court normally does not interfere but the facts, which have been brought on records have persuaded this Court to interfere. Petitioner states that the State Government in the year 2006 itself had sanctioned establishment of a Primary Health Centre for Purnahiya Block of Sheohar District .Block headquarters is located in village Purnahiya . It appears no land of government was available at village Purnahiya and as such local revenue officer requested the local people of Purnahiya village to arrange for land. One Ram Briksh Pathak volunteered to give 0.65 acres of land as gift to the State Government for construction of Primary Health Centre at village 2 Purnahiya itself . Application was made by him to the Collector for exemption from payment of stamp duty and other charges and the Collector, after due enquiry as to the right, title and interest of the said Ram Briksh Pathak, granted exemption from payment of stamp duty etc. for registering deed of gift in favour of the State Government by the said Ram Briksh Pathak. The registered gift deed in the name of Governor was duly executed. The District Magistrate then sanctioned the work by his memo no. 308, dated 8.12.2008 (Annexure 7) clearly stating that Primary Health Centre would be located at village Purnahiya in Purnahiya Block. Pursuant thereto tenders were issued and an agreement was executed as between the Executive Engineer and one contractor, Sri Jitendra Kumar, for construction of Primary Health Centre at village Purnahiya in Sheohar Block(wrongly written instead of Purnahiya Block). At that stage, all of a sudden, the Collector of Sheohar intervened and got the work shifted to village Sonaul Sultan on the basis that one Srinath Prasad Singh ( respondent no.6) had agreed to donate his land for the said establishment . This was necessary because the Collector was informed that the earlier land donated by Ram Briksh Pathak was not proper as Ram Briksh Pathak was not the raiyat but under raiyat in respect of the said land. Without any fresh agreement and without any fresh tender for the new place, the work was shifted and has by now substantially been completed at village Sonaul Sultan. Petitioner states that once the State Government sanctioned construction of Primary Health Centre in the Block Purnahiya in the district of Sheohar, there being local self 3 government in existence in that block for that block, it should have been consulted because it was for the benefits of people of that block. No one was at all consulted. The Health Centre being primarily responsibility of the Civil Surgeon -cum- Chief Medical Officer, Sheohar, he should have been consulted and his concurrence obtained, which was not done. The District Magistrate-cum- Collector, Sheohar became the sole authority to decide what was good for the people excluding the people themselves. Mr. Yogendra Mishra, learned counsel for the petitioner submits that while selecting the site, the Collector, even if he was competent , had to take the views of the local self government and the Civil Surgeon, who is an expert in this matter, as such Collector had no authority to take a decision independently and keeping all in dark. Petitioner has annexed a certificate granted by the Civil Surgeon in which it has been stated that he had nothing to do with the decision nor was the site selected with his approval. In fact, the Civil Surgeon has filed a counter affidavit in this regard. This falsifies the stand of the Collector of the district that Civil Surgeon was duly consulted and had visited the site also. Petitioner has also filed a certificate of the Pramukh of the Block Panchayat Samiti of Purnahiya Block certifying that the site of the land given by respondent no.6 in village Sonaul Sultan is a desolated place not adjacent High School, Middle School , Main Road and on three sides surrounded by jungle and as such is unfit for establishment of Primary Health Centre. This falsifies the stand of the Collector that Primary Health Centre is being constructed 4 in a well populated area, which would be of a greater convenience to the population . This also clearly shows that though the Block office i.e. Block headquarters is at village Purnahiya, Primary Health Centre is to be shifted to another adjacent village away from Purnahiya village, which is the Block headquarters. Petitioner then states that when the said Ram Briksh Pathak donated substantial land in the same capacity for construction of the Block Office and Block headquarters, no one objected and the Collector accepted the donation and constructions were made where the Block Office is functioning. Then again when the said Ram Briksh Pathak ,in the same capacity, donated the land for Police Station and Ayurvedic Hospital, no one objected. They have been constructed and are running there but when in the same capacity he donated the land for Primary Health Centre adjacent to the Block Office, part of the same plot, after full enquiry donation was accepted but when it came to construction suddenly the Collector became wiser and decided to shift construction to another village altogether. In my view, this called for interference by this Court. Ordinarily the site selection is the job of the administration, which involves no legal question but in view of 73rd Constitutional Amendment, which created local self government in the shape of Panchayat, a sort of functional autonomy has been created where the right to administer themselves have been conferred on Panchayats. It is for the people, by the people, of the people. Primary Health Centre is not the property of the Collector for his benefits . It is people’s s 5 property for people’s benefits and they have to make choice. If we look to the provisions of Bihar Panchayat Raj Act, 2006, which is in conformity with the constitutional scheme of part IX of the Constitution it contemplates establishment of a Panchayat Samiti for every block. It would be seen that this Panchayat Samiti is local self government and has to take decisions which are the views of people. Its powers and functions are enumerated in Section 47 of the said Act. Then Zila Parishad is constituted under Bihar Panchayat Raj Act, 2006. Zila Parishad is form of local self government for the entire district excluding municipal area and cantonment area as per Section 62 of the Act. Its composition is of directly elected members and includes , Pramukhs of various Panchayat Samities of the district. When we come to the functions and powers of Zila Parishad it is provided in Section 73 of the Act . If we see item 15 under Section 73 of the Act we would find that establishment and maintenance of hospital, Primary health Centre and Dispensary are the responsibility of Zila Parishad. It is by virtue of Section 74, the Zila Parishad is to provide for carrying out of any work to promote health, education, safety etc. Thus, seen, the constitutional and the legislative powers are now vested, which was earlier with the Collector of the district, on bodies of local self government in the shape of Gram Panchayat/Panchayat Samiti or the Zila Parishad or ,as the case may be, Municipality . After coming into force the said Acts, in these matters, which are reserved as the functions relating to the Panchayat or the 6 Municipality, Collector of the district is divested of his jurisdiction. Even if he has the jurisdiction ,he can only do these acts in consultation with and with the approval of the Panchayat and Municipality and not independent of them. What is more shocking in the present case is that Civil Surgeon-cum- Chief Medical officer of the district, who is ex- pert and who understands the requirements better is totally bypassed by the Collector. It is not understandable for what bonafide reason, in Purnahiya village where there is a Block Office and Ayurvedic Hospital and adjacent to this Primary Health Centre is to be established but it is now moved away from the Block headquarter to another village and as Panchayat Samiti Pramukh has certified it in desolated place. Then again when the said Ram Briksh Pathak donated the land for the Block Office , Ayurvedic Hospital and the local Police Station, they were readily accepted but when from the same plot, under the same capacity he donated the land for the Primary Health Centre, initially having been accepted, later it is rejected. No one objected to petitioner donating the said land , yet Collector felt insecure all of sudden rather more secured with the land of respondent no.6. What is more curious is that inspite of the stay order granted by this Court, apparently the construction continued, for in one affidavit it was stated that almost 50% construction has been done then while the stay was operating another affidavit is later filed by the State stating that 80% construction is completed. Petitioner has been protesting that notwithstanding the stay hurriedly local administration was taking steps so that construction is completed. 7 Then again, the agreement was for construction of Primary Health Centre at village Purnahiya but without fresh advertisement and without fresh agreement, the site is shifted to another village and apparently on the same agreement construction is done at a new site, which again remains unexplained. For the reasons stated above, this Court could have interfered because there appears lack of bonafide on the part of the Collector in this matter. He himself got involved into thick of local politics instead of keeping himself aloof , but Court is not un-mindful of the fact that substantial public money has already been spent and it would not be in larger public interest now to interfere. It is a fait accompli though wrongly accomplished . In such a situation, I deem it proper not to interfere in the matter, but let a copy of this order be sent to the Secretaries of Finance Department, Department of Urban Development and Department of Health for appropriate action in that regard and for future guidance in the matter. With the aforesaid observations, this application stands disposed of. Singh (Navaniti Prasad Singh, J.)