SUBHASH KRISHNA KANITKAR Vs. BHIWANDI NIZAMPURA MUNICIPAL COUNCIL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) BY this writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution the petitioner seeks appropriate directions to the first and second respondents to demolish a building consisting of ground and six upper floors constructed by respondent Nos. 4 to 6 on a land bearing City Survey No. 3331 and house property Nos. 358 and 358/1 at Kasar Alley, Bhiwandi, District Thane.

(2.) THE case of the petitioner is that originally there was a single storeyed structure on the said property. Respondent Nos. 4 to 6 are alleged to have applied for and obtained repair permission from respondent No. 2 and it is alleged that the said repair permission was for the purpose of carrying out repair work to a ground floor and two upper floors. The case of the petitioner is that even the said two upper floors were never in existence. The repair permission is stated to have been issued on 5th May 1995. According to the petitioner, in 1998, respondent Nos. 4 to 6 started work on a completely new construction in violation of the repair permission and a building consisting of ground and six upper floors has been constructed. The petitioner submitted a representation dated 21st July 1998 to the second respondent and sought extracts of the assessment register for the purpose of establishing the nature of the original structure on the said property. The petitioner has been informed by the second respondent that since the property in question does not stand in the name of the petitioner the extracts of the assessment register cannot be granted to him. Thus aggrieved by the inaction of the first and second respondent in dealing with an allegedly unauthorized construction, the petitioner has moved this Court in the instant proceedings.

(3.) AN affidavit in reply has been filed by the Chief Officer of the Bhiwandi-Nizampura Municipal Council in which it has been stated that an F. I. R. has been lodged on 4th June 1999 with the Bhiwandi Police Station in respect of offences alleged to have been committed under section 43 read with section 52 of the M. R. T. P. Act 1966 and sections 119 and 217 read with section 34 of the Indian Penal Code. Respondent Nos. 4, 5 and 6 as well as various officers of the Municipality including the then Chief Officer, Surveyor and Chief Engineer have been named as accused. The affidavit in reply further states that a resolution dated 12th October, 1998 has been passed by the first respondent by which it has been resolved to regularize various cases of unauthorized construction in the area of the Municipal Council by imposing a penalty and compounding offences under section 143 of the M. R. T. P. Act 1966. There are, according to the affidavit in reply, between 100 and 150 such cases in Bhiwandi Town. The said resolution of the first respondent has been forwarded to the State Government on 20th November 1998.