instances of citizens seeking courts interventions to rederess their grievances are only on the rise on the positive side this reflects a society that is now more aware of its constitutional rights and does not hesitate to seek legal remedies to enjoy those rights on the other hand it is a highly disturbing trend because it directly demonstrates governance failure in urban management many of the grievances for which gurgaon citizens are knocking at the doors of the courts are everyday administrative issues one of the earliest legal cases concerning development filed by residents related to external development charges edc after suffering bad roads missing sewage lines lack of clean water supply and street lighting for years and having failed to get satisfactory answers from the local administration citizens went to court the civil writ petition was filed by the ngo society for urban regeneration surge in 2002 surge wanted to know how much edc money was collected how much was spent on infrastructural development and the list of development works carried out with the money rti was then still at a nascent stage in 2008 dlf city residents filed a petition in the punjab and haryana high court against the dumping of the citys garbage close to their homes but before going to court the citizens first agitated on the roads it is only when agitation failed to move the authorities the citizens were left with no other choice the bandhwari garbage treatment plant was finally set up only after the courts intervention a garbage treatment plant is a basic infrastructure in urban areas but gurgaon did not have one till then in 2009 the qutab enclave residents welfare association qerwa filed a civil writ petition in the punjab and haryana high court concerning drinking water and ground water exploitation the petition read the petitioners herein are filing the present writ petition invoking the extra ordinary jurisdiction of this honble court for protection of their fundamental rights and fundamental duties as envisaged in articles 21 48a and 51a of the constitution of india respectivelythe present writ petition is concerning the conservation of water including ground water and for stopping illegal use and exploitation of ground water in gurgaon district of haryana and national capital territory of delhi the case of encroachments around the ammunition depot is well known to everyone in gurgaon as one of the most significant governance failures as per law no construction was allowed within 900m of the ammunition depot which has direct relevance to national security and safety of human life and property yet the local administration failed to prevent even illegal colonies in the restricted zone finally the court had to step in and pass directives to prevent all new constructions till a final decision was reached when the municipal corporation of gurgaon was formed payment of property tax became an issue especially with residents living in builder colonies these residents were already paying heavy monthly maintenance to the colonizer they naturally felt doubly