Governance challenges today are significantly more complex, making the traditional concept of a village or the Panchayati Raj system, as envisioned by Mahatma Gandhi, outdated and in need of reconsideration, observed Kerala High Court judge Justice A Muhammed Mustaque on Monday.
Notably, he advocated for greater centralization in various aspects of administration and governance, asserting that localization and decentralization have not produced the expected outcomes. The judge made this remark in open court but clarified that it reflected his personal opinion.
"It is my personal view that the kind of idea of a village that Gandhiji envisaged which is now incorporated constitutionally, should be scrapped because there is more complexity in governance. Back then, only small things needed to be done. But the challenge is much bigger now for local authorities. Town planning is a big challenge, just look at the kind of litigations. Waste management is another big challenge. These cannot be done at a grassroots level. We have that subsidiarity principle but we must have a centralised authority to oversee it."
"Back then, Gandhiji envisaged small issues being solved by grama swaraj (village self-rule). That has changed now, we need to change these things...Governance has become a big challenge....(Reforms) are badly needed even more in the rest of the country. I don't think in some remote village in Uttar Pradesh or Bihar, those who get elected would provide such services properly. I don't think what we envisaged in the1950's should remain the same in 2025," Justice Mustaque explained.
Justice Mustaque made these remarks while a bench comprising him and Justice P. Krishna Kumar was hearing a batch of appeals filed by the State government against a 2024 single-judge ruling. The ruling had declared as illegal the delimitation exercise conducted in eight municipalities—Mattannur, Sreekandapuram, Panoor, Koduvally, Payyoli, Mukkam, Feroke, and Pattambi—as well as one panchayat, Padanna in Kasaragod.
The single-judge had also struck down the Kerala Municipality (Second Amendment) Act, 2024, the Kerala Panchayat Raj (Second Amendment) Act, 2024, along with the government notification and the guidelines issued by the Delimitation Commission, deeming them inoperative and invalid.
It was observed that the 2015 delimitation of local bodies had been based on the 2011 census, and therefore, the 2024 amendments increasing the number of seats were improper.
Additionally, several other petitions related to the same issue were pending before the Court and were tagged along with the State government's appeals, which were listed before the division bench today.
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