HARSHAYU INFRASTRUCTURES Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present Letters Patent Appeal under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent is filed by the appellant - original petitioner against the judgment and order passed by the learned Single Judge dtd. 4/9/2019 in Special Civil Application No.7865 of 2019.

(2.) The background of facts of present appeal is that appellant - original petitioner is a Nodal Agency appointed by the respondent - State Government and the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation to implement the Scheme framed under "The Regulations for the Rehabilitation and Redevelopment of the Slums, 2010 (hereinafter referred to as "the Regulations"). The said Regulations have been framed with an object to construct a multistoried building for rehabilitation of slum dwellers of Final Plot No.282 having Town Planning Scheme No.20 of Mouje Navrangpura, Near Gulbai Tekra, Ahmedabad. Under the rehabilitation scheme, the respondent - corporation and the State Government are under an obligation to prepare the list of eligible slum dwellers and appellant had to remove 75% of slum dwellers from the final plot for development and implement the scheme for construction of multistoried residential units.

(3.) It is the case of the appellant that some of the slum dwellers of the aforementioned final plot filed Civil Suits against the appellant seeking relief that possession of the slum dwellers from the land in question may not be disturbed without due process of law and along with suit, notice of motion was also moved seeking interim relief. The learned City Civil Judge before whom suits were filed being Civil Suit Nos. 2905/2013 and 3075/2013 had dismissed the notice of motion as a result of it, said slum dwellers of respective suits (plaintiffs of the respective suits) have preferred Appeal from Order before this Court in Appeal From Order Nos. 133/2015 and 134/2015 and after due hearing, said appeals came to be dismissed vide order dtd. 5/5/2016. However, while disposing of the said Appeal from Orders, certain observations have been made by the learned Single Judge, which have given rise to passing of an order dtd. 1/10/2016 by the respondent authority to evict slum dwellers from the said final plot. Since it was practically impossible to evict such large numbers of slum dwellers, appellant was directed to submit documentary evidence of other slum dwellers claiming residence under the Scheme of 2010. According to appellant, said order was a defective order and practically not possible to be obeyed. As a result, appellant submitted representations before the authority on 16/8/2016, 6/10/2016 and 18/1/2017 for granting permission to proceed with the rehabilitation project. According to appellant, no decision was taken by the authorities upon such representation and subsequently vide order dtd. 21/9/2015, this Court directed respondent - corporation to carry out the survey with regard to the eligible slum dwellers under the scheme and pursuant to said order, respondent authority with a team comprising of Assistant City Engineer (Housing Project), Assistant Vigilance Officer, Town Development Inspector along with other representatives of the Slum Society / Association has visited the plot in question on several occasion namely on 21/9/2015, 21/10/2015, 2/11/2015, 10/8/2016, 19/10/2016 and thereby completed the inspection for which according to the appellant the videography was also recorded.