Andhra Pradesh High Court upholds 2021 Act merging Gram Panchayats into Municipalities and Corporations by legislation
The question: Whether the Amendment Act is within the legislative competence of the State and consistent with Articles 14, 243P and 243Q and the 73rd and 74th Amendments
The Andhra Pradesh High Court, in a Division Bench judgment of Chief Justice Lisa Gill and Justice Challa Gunaranjan, has dismissed a batch of writ petitions challenging the Andhra Pradesh Municipal Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021 (Act No. 5 of 2021). The Court held that the Act, which places named Gram Panchayat areas inside Municipalities and Municipal Corporations by way of Schedules, is within the legislative competence of the State and is not contrary to Articles 14, 243P or 243Q of the Constitution. The Act, published in the Andhra Pradesh Gazette on 09.06.2021, amended the A.P. Municipalities Act, 1965 and the A.P. Municipal Corporations Act, 1994. It inserted Section 3(1-B) and new Schedules X and XI in the 1965 Act, and Section 3(3-A) with a Schedule in the 1994 Act. The listed areas stand included in the named Municipality or Corporation where no elected body of the Gram Panchayat is in existence, and all consequences of inclusion, including de-notification under the A.P. Panchayat Raj Act, 1994, are deemed completed. The writ petitions concerned Gram Panchayats in Ponnur, Srikakulam, Tadepalligudem, Rajamahendravaram, Palakole, Kandukur, Rajam, Bheemavaram, Gudur, Bhimavaram and Gudivada, along with a general challenge to the Act (W.P. No. 27885 of 2026). The challenge arose after the learned Single Bench allowed W.P. No. 3337 of 2020 on 06.03.2020, setting aside the merger of Chintalapudi and five other villages into Ponnur Municipality for want of the notice and notification required by law. Thereafter Ordinance No.17 of 2020, dated 31.12.2020 was issued, and subsequently the Amendment Act was enacted. Earlier petitions against the Ordinance (W.P. No. 5556 of 2021 and batch) were disposed of on 06.08.2021 with liberty to challenge the Act.