JOGESH Vs. INDORE MUNICIPAL CORPORATION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) With the consent of the parties, present petition is heard and decided finally at motion hearing stage. The petitioner has approached this Court by way of writ petition under Art. 226 of the Constitution of India seeking following reliefs :

(2.) The petitioner, who is at present residing at Australia, is the owner of the property called "Lantern Hotel" situated between Yashwant Niwas Road and Yashwant Club Road. This property is in the same line as official residential bungalows of the Mayor and the Commissioner of Indore Municipal Corporation and house of respondent no. 8 and 9. In the month of 2013, when the petitioner visited India and came to his property i.e. Lantern Hotel, he found that the vacant portion between his house and the road has been encroached upon by someone. At that time, the petitioner was not aware about, that who and under whose instructions, the area has been encroached by fencing and plantation has been carried out therein. The petitioner has demonstrated the said encroached portion by way of site plan, which is filed as Annexure-P/1 in this petition. As the owner of the property is entitled to ingress from and egress to the public street and to his property vice-versa at every point. The petitioner made complaint to respondent no. 1 to 7 and requested to identify encroacher and called upon him to furnish the authority under which he has made encroachment.

(3.) The petitioner has described the rights and duties of the Municipal Corporation under the various provisions of the Municipal Corporation Act, 1956 like sections 322-A, 307 and 293 in the notice dated 09/01/2014, and by which, he called upon respondent nos. 1 to 3 for removal of the encroachment. Since no action was taken and the said encroachment is causing inconvenience to the petitioner and diminishing the value of the property, therefore, the petitioner had no option, but to approach this Court under Art. 226 of the Constitution of India seeking directions initially to respondents 1 to 3 to perform their duties as provided under the Municipal Corporation Act.