MAHENDRALAL SALUJA Vs. MUNICIPAL CORPORATION BILASPUR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) PETITIONERS have prayed for issuance of a direction to the Municipal Corporation, Bilaspur (hereinafter referred as 'the Corporation') to remove all illegal construction made over Khasra No. 488 and 214 situated in Shiv Talkies Bus Stand Road between present Shyama Prasad Mukherjee square to Ravindra Nath Tagore square with a further direction to the Corporation to widen the road from Shyama Prasad Mukherjee square to Ravindra Nath Tagore square to the extent of 115 ft.

(2.) THE origin of the dispute goes back to the year 1987 when Miscellaneous Petition No. 2450/1987 was filed by three individuals objecting to the Corporation's decision to construct shops on the said Khasra numbers on the ground that the said land is Nazul land shown as road in the Master Plan. The writ petition was eventually disposed of on 05/03/1997 by Annexure P/7, after recording statement of the Corporation that they would leave atleast 85 ft. area of road and seek permission from the State Government to use the rest of the plot for making commercial complex. The Division Bench further observed that the Corporation will act in public interest and review the proposal if necessary in public interest. Second writ petition bearing W.P. No. 1408 of 1998 was preferred by five petitioners including both the present writ petitioners. It was stated in the said second writ petition that an incorrect statement was made in the earlier round of the writ petition that proposed width of road is 80 ft., whereas according to Master Plan it was 35 meters (115 ft) (para 5.18 of the earlier writ petition of the year 1998). It was alleged in the said writ petition that the Corporation is widening the road up to 115 ft only on one side and not on either side from the centre and the Corporation is likely to proceed to construct the shop by encroaching over public road in an illegal manner. In the first writ petition as well as subsequent writ petition interim orders were issued against the Corporation restraining it from constructing the shops and thus right from the year 1987 till date the shops in question have been constructed half way and have not been completed. Writ Petition No. 1408 of 1998 came up for hearing before this Court on 09/02/2009 and on the said date the following order has been passed by this Court, on the basis of undertaking given by the Corporation :-

(3.) HAVING heard learned counsel for the parties and having gone through the documents available in the record, it appears to this Court that the Municipal Corporation has utterly failed in discharging its statutory duties. The under constructed shops are placed in the heart of the city for last 25 years and the present is third round of litigation. Construction has been stayed by the High Court twice earlier and ultimately the Corporation submitted an undertaking which has been reproduced in the preceding paragraph of this order. Once having submitted an undertaking now the Corporation has come forward with a plea that it does not have requisite fund to compensate the allottees meaning thereby that till the compensation is paid it is difficult for them to comply with the undertaking regarding removal of shops which have otherwise been constructed in an illegal manner being contrary to Master Plan.