MUNICIPAL CORPORATION OF DELHI Vs. HIRALAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Who has the power to remove encroachment on a public street in Delhi, the Delhi Municipal Corporation acting under the provisions of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957 (hereinafter called the Corporation Act) or the Gaon Panchayat acting under the Delhi Panchayat Raj Act, 1954 (hereinafter called the Panchayat Raj Act)? The Delhi Municipal Corporation. (appellant herein) sent a notice dated 20.8.1960 to Shri Hira Lal (respondent herein) asking the latter to remove encroachment from a public street in village Kapas Hora. The notice purported to be under sections 320 and 321 of the Corporation Act. Shri Hira Lal thereon instituted a suit praying that the Corporation be restrained from proceeding against him. The plaintiff, inter alia, alleged that the Corporation had no jurisdiction to serve the said notice on him inasmuch as the village was governed by the provisions of section 18(1) of the Panchayat Raj Act. The suit was defended by the Corporation, inter alia, on the ground that the Corporation had the power to remove the encroachment made by the plaintiff on the public street under sections 320 and 321 of the Corporation Act.

(2.) The suit was decreed by the trial Court on the preliminary ground that the exclusive jurisdiction to remove an encroachment from a public street vested in the Gaon Panchayat and the Corporation had no jurisdiction to do so. The Corporation was, therefore, restrained from proceeding against the plaintiff. The lower appellate Court adopted the view and the reasoning of the trial Court and dismissed the first appeal.

(3.) The sole question before me in the second appeal is which of the two competing authorities, namely, the Corporation and the Gaon Panchayat, has the power to remove the alleged encroachment from the public street in village Kapas Hora?