Mangaluru: The Mangaluru City Corporation received a notification from the Urban Development Department of the Karnataka Government in connection with the constitution of area sabhas in the city.

While this comes as good news to those who have been working hard to get area sabhas and ward committees established, the activists are not entirely happy. According to a report by DH, some activists have opined that the notification is impractical.

It can be recalled that last year, the Karnataka High Court had directed the authorities to notify the area sabhas in Mangaluru before the ward elections and form ward committees soon after the council of the MCC is constituted post elections.

However, the elections came and went, but the notification never arrived. Irked, Nagarika Shakti president Narendra Kumar filed a criminal contempt petition in the High Court, the hearing of which is pending.

As per the notification issued by the UDD, the 60 wards of the MCC have been divided into 121 area sabhas and each sabha has 4000 to 5000 voters as members (According to the Karnataka Municipal Corporations (Amendment) Act, 2011, all voters are, by default, members of the area sabha).

The activists, although pleased that the government has complied with the HC, have opined that the notification was done in an “impractical” manner. “It is almost impossible to gather 5000 voters, interact with them, get a majority and take decisions,” they said.

They added that they would bring the issue to the notice to the Court during the hearing of Narendra Kumar’s petition. “We will ask for a practical implementation of the court orders,” they said.