Confusion over legality of Jamshedpur Industrial City notification

This essentially means Tata, which has been providing various civic amenities in a part of the area and Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee providing services in the rest of the area, will be subsumed into the JITC working as a single unit.

A government source said: “This will be easier for decision making as there were several hurdles in collecting certain taxes or installing, for instance, air quality index monitors. Although there are factories in the city, we don’t know the pollution levels.”

While sources said the definition of ‘local Minister’ is unclear, Jamshedpur East Singhbhum MLA Saryu Roy, who is also a committee member of JITC, said the notification is “unconstitutional and illegal”.

If the ‘local minister’ means a minister who is local, then it would be Congress’s Banna Gupta, who holds the Health portfolio.

“Like normal notifications, it has been said to be issued by the order of the Governor. But the reality is the government did not send the relevant file to the Governor and at its own level issued orders to make Jamshedpur an industrial city,” he said. Roy added: “The Governor has this right under Article 253 Q of the Constitution…This is an unauthorised attempt by the government. It is a violation of the Constitution…”

A secretary-level officer in the Governor’s House said the Governor has not sent the proposal to them. “Like rejig in Tribes Advisory Council, the Jamshedpur Industrial Township Committee has also been formed into it.”

Asked what is the course of action, the source said: “The Governor cannot file a writ against the government. We can only write a letter seeking clarity.”

Calls and texts sent to Urban Development and Housing Secretary Vinay Choubey, also Secretary to the Chief Minister, did not elicit any response.

The notification said the local Minister concerned will monitor the scheduled activities of Jamshedpur Industrial City and in absence, the meeting will be presided by the Deputy Commissioner (DC) East Singhbhum district, whose post will be of Vice-President of the Committee.

Besides the Minister and the DC, there will be 4 other state government representatives in the committee: Sub-Divisional Officer, Deputy Collector (Tata Lease), District Transport Officer, and an officer appointed by the Government, not of SDO-level, but will head the statutory cell.

From Tata Steel, there will be 11 members, and the vice-president of Tata Steel will also act as another Vice-President of the committee. A senior general manager of Town Operations (Tata Steel Utilities and Infrastructure Limited) will be the secretary of the committee.

From the city’s side, the members will comprise the MP, two MLAs including Saryu Roy, Head of Tata Motors Limited of Jamshedpur unit, President of Tata Workers Union, and five nominated renowned local members from various fields.

A government source said: “It is not clear if a Department Minister can head the Township Committee and whether it will be a violation of the office for profit.”