REKHA RANI Vs. STATE OF U P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The above mentioned writ petitions have been filed challenging the orders of the various Development Authorities constituted under Section 4 of the U.P. Urban Planning and Development Act, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as the "Act, 1973") demanding (a) External development fee (b) Internal development fee (c )Sub-division charges (d) park fee (e) compounding fee in respect of sub-division charges, (f) inspection/ supervision charges, (g) labour cess, (h) bank guarantee for the value of the cost of the land and the constructions which are required to be raised by a developer of more than 3000 sq. meters of land and above, under the Government Order dated 26.9.2011 (k) bank guarantee for rain water harvesting system to be installed in the buildings and lastly (l) Impact fee, which is being demanded by the Gorakhpur Development Authority only.

(2.) We have heard Sri H.N. Singh, Senior Advocate, Sri Anoop Trivedi, Sri Rajeev Kumar Saini, Sri R.K. Saini, Sri R.K. Sharma, Sri K.D. Tripathi, Sri Pankaj Kumar Shukla, Sri Neeraj Kumar Srivastava, Sri Arvind Srivastava, Sri Bheem Singh, Sri Sauraubh Tiwari, Sri Sushil Singh, Sri Vinay Khare, Sri Satish Chaturvedi, Sri Ajit Ray, Sri Jamal Khan and Sri Promod Kumar Srivastava advocates on behalf of petitioners, we have also heard Sri Ramesh Upadhay Chief Standing Counsel on behalf of the State, and Sri Ashwani Mishra, Senior Advocate assisted by Sri A.B. Paul Advocate on behalf of Allahabad Development Authority, Sri H.N. Singh Advocate on behalf of Aligarh Development Authority, Sri B.D. Pandey on Advocate behalf of Gorakhpur Development Authority, Sri Dhamendra Shukla Advocate on behalf of Bareilly Development Authority, Sri Rajesh Kumar Pandey Advocate on behalf of Muzaffar Nagar Development Authority, Sri J.N. Maurya Advocate on behalf of Agra Development Authority and Sri Prem Prakash Yadav Advocate on behalf of Bulandshahar Development Authority.

(3.) These writ petitions raise common question of facts and law with regard to the competence of the Development Authorities constituted under Act 1973 to levy and demand the aforesaid fees before sanctioning the building plan as per the application submitted under Section 14 of the 1973.