VINOD KHURANA Vs. NEW DELHI MUNCIPAL COUNCIL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The nine petitioners are the owners of shops in Shankar Market, Connaught Place, New Delhi. The work of re-laying of floor by tiling of the verandahs in the said market is underway by the respondent no.1 NDMC. The petitioners have filed this petition to restrain the NDMC from interfering in the peaceful enjoyment of the petitioners of their respective shops. The petitioners are aggrieved from the notice dated 29th September, 2009 of the NDMC directing the petitioners to remove the unauthorized construction and encroachment in the verandah in front of their shops.

(2.) The counsel for the petitioners with reference to the photographs filed with the paper book has explained that the NDMC is asking the petitioners to recede the rolling shutters installed by each of the petitioners on the openings of their respective shops. From the said photographs it is made out that the petitioners, by installing the rolling shutters at a distance of about eighteen inches from the openings of their shops, have extended the size of their shops and included a portion of verandah in front of their shops, in their shops. The counsel for the petitioners also does not dispute the said fact. He however contends that at the time of execution of the Conveyance Deed of their respective shops in favour of the petitioners, not only the shops but also the proportionate area of the Verandah in front of the shop was sold to the petitioners. It is thus contended that the petitioners are not only the owners of the shop, the area whereof is described in the Conveyance Deeds in their favour but also of the Verandah or the proportionate area in the common verandah running in front of their shops. The petitioners thus contend that the portion of the verandah in front of the shops which has been so enclosed by the petitioners, is their property only and the NDMC cannot ask the petitioners to remove the rolling shutters fromwhere the same are installed and to recede the same or do so forcibly.

(3.) It is also contended that the NDMC itself, as far back as in the year 1962 had permitted the shopkeepers to put up their show cases not exceeding 18" in length and 6" in width in the door of their shops. It is urged that the petitioners have only included the area where they were permitted to keep their show cases within their shops.