ISHWAR DEALERS PVT. LTD. Vs. MUNICIPAL COMMISSIONER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioners are the owners of flat No. 10-D situated on the 10th floor of Shakespeare court at premises No.21/A Shakespeare Sarani, Kolkata (hereinafter referred to as the said flat). The petitioners are Private Ltd. Companies carrying on their respective business in the said flat by using single entrance leading to 10th floor's common passage/corridor which leads to staircase and lift. Though the petitioners are in occupation of their separate demarcated portion within the said flat but they are unable to physically divide the said flat as per their share therein as the said flat has a single entrance leading to the common corridor on the 10th floor of the said building. For convenient use of the respective demarcated portions of the said flat, the petitioners have created a supplementary entrance by braking open a part of the wall and fixing a wooden door and collapsible gate therein for having direct access to the portion of the said flat which is exclusively allotted to one of the petitioners and leaving the other one for the exclusive ingress and egress of the other petitioner to his allotment, through the common corridor of the 10th floor of the said building.

(2.) THE respondent No. 4 which is an association of the flat owners of the said building, objected to the creation of such separate entrance in the said flat, as according to them, if the petitioners are permitted to create such a separate entrance for supplementary ingress and egress then if the other flat owners seek similar permission to create such separate supplementary entrance in their respective flats, then such permission cannot be denied and in that event the building cannot be maintained in the manner as it is required to be maintained as per the sanctioned plan of the said building.

(3.) PURSUANT to the directions passed in the said writ petition from time to time, the said flat was inspected repeatedly by the Municipal Authority. The first report which was submitted by the Municipal Authority, after holding an inspection, recorded in its clean term therein, that the Municipal Authority had no objection for providing such a door or exit in the said flat. However the subsequent report did not agree with the first report. It was reported therein that by mistake it was mentioned in the earlier report that the department had no objection if such door or exit was created in the said flat. It is further reported therein that for creation of such separate exit, no sanction is necessary from the Municipal Authority; however formal permission for the Municipal Authority is needed.