High Court Setback For Nitish Kumar’s ‘Saath Nischay’ Scheme

Source – news18.com

Patna: The Patna High Court on Wednesday removed two of the seven sets of commitments (Saat Nischay) from the purview of the state government appointed special body and restored rights of local bodies to implement these schemes.

Saath Nischay is similar to a common minimum program which was agreed upon between Janata Dal (United), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar projected it as a program to develop rural Bihar.

The High Court has struck down Nal-Jal and Nali-Gali Yojna accepting the plea that these two programs were against the spirit of Panchayti Raj system and only Gram Panchayats have the right to implement such schemes.

Union of elected representatives of Gram Panchayats (Mukhiya Sangh) had opposed the state government move to implement the said two schemes by Ward Development Committee, a body specially set up by the government for implementing seven points program.

Chief justice Rajendra Menon accepted this contention and ordered piped water supply and sewer schemes be implemented by Gram Panchayats and not by any other body which is not the part of Panchayati Raj Act 1992.

Ashok Kumar Singh, President of Mukhiya Sangh, termed this as victory of the common people. “Nitish Kumar imposed these two schemes on Panchayats which was against the spirit of the constitution and dealt a blow to the rights of elected representatives of local bodies. Only Gram Sabha is entitled to decide and implement such schemes”, he said.