RUCHI MALLS PVT LTD Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Appellant No.1 in this appeal is a Private Limited Company and appellant No.2 is the Senior Manager with the appellant No.1 Company. Pursuant to the invitation offered by the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA) for setting up an entertainment hub upon a parcel of land situated opposite the Vastrapur Lake at Ahmedabad, and upon interest being shown by appellants, it came to be allotted to the appellants, and the appellants have constructed and developed a state-of-the-art shopping mall upon the said land known as "Alpha One Mall" as per the permissions granted by the AUDA. The mall was opened for public use on 15.10.2011. Initially, the appellants did not charge any parking fees from the visitors. However, it is their case that subsequently, people visiting other places in the vicinity of their mall were also parking their vehicles in the parking area of the mall, which led to denial of the parking space to the visitors of the mall, hence they decided to levy parking charges at the rate of Rs.10/- for two-wheelers and Rs.20/- for four-wheelers. However, the respondent No.2 Police Inspector, "A" Division Traffic Police Station, Shahibaug, Ahmedabad, issued a notice on 21.7.2018, informing the appellants, inter alia, that the collection of parking charges was violative of the General Development Control Regulations, 2017, ("GDCR" for short) and the Building Use Permission ("BU Permission" for short) granted to them, calling upon them to remain present on 22.7.2018, along with necessary documents to how cause as to under what authority they were collecting the parking charges. It was the case of the appellants before learned Single Judge hat they were also threatened that if they continued to charge parking fees, necessary legal action shall be taken against them. The appellants gave reply on 22.7.2018 explaining the situation and thereafter, challenged the legality and validity of the impugned notice dated 21.7.2018 issued by respondent No.2.

(2.) Learned Single Judge, by a common CAV Judgment dated 17.10.2018, has disposed of the writ petition filed by the present appellants along with three other identical petitions, subject to the following directions:

(3.) The appellants have parking capacity of 1500 two-wheelers and 1250 four-wheelers. The appellants were not levying parking charge till 31.05.2016. The say of the appellants is that new amusement park at Vastrapur Lake premises, another commercial complex constructed opposite the mall of the appellants and a religious place known as Kalyan Pushti Haveli, led to congestion of traffic and visitors of other public places also tarted parking their vehicles in mall parking and therefore, the appellants had to start levying parking charges. Another reason given for levying such charge is that the appellants are incurring costs towards maintenance of parking facility.