SHUKAN KUMAR Vs. MUNICIPAL CORPORATION LUDHIANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners, who are displaced persons from Pakistan, after the partition of the country, have settled at Ludhiana. They erected temporary wooden cabins on a piece of land known as 'Kamla Nehru Market' and this land belonged to Railway Administration. The Municipal Committee, Ludhiana which has now been converted into Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana with a view to provide permanent structures to the persons who were carrying on their business in wooden cabins decided to acquire this land from the Railway Administration. Accordingly negotiations took place between the Railway Administration and the Municipal Committee, Ludhiana and in the month of March, 1970, this piece of land where the wooden cabins existed and some other lard was transferred by the Railway Administration to the Municipal Committee, Ludhiana. Thereafter, the Municipal Committee erected shops on this piece of land and allotted the same to the petitioners on a monthly rent of Rs. 325/-. Later on these shops were sold to the petitioners in the year 1987. The petitioners have thus acquired full ownership rights, in the shops. After acquisition of ownership rights by paying sale consideration in cash, the petitioners approached Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana with a view to seek permission to raise first floor on the shops already existed. The request of the petitioners yeas not acceeded. This is apparent from order Annexure-P-10 whereby application of Kuldip Chand for raising the construction of first floor was rejected. The request was turned down simply on the ground that as per conditions of the sale, the petitioners are not entitled for raising further constructions on the shops in their possession. The petitioners have challenged the order passed by the Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana inter alia on the following grounds:- i. That once the property was transferred to the petitioner by the Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana it is not within the competence of the Municipal Corporation to impose further conditions and such a condition would be a clog on the title and ownership rights of the petitioners. ii. That the Municipal Corporation has itself raised more than one storeyed buildings on, a part of the land which was acquired in the same manner as the land of the petitioners from the Railway Administration. In support of this everment, the petitioners have also placed on record some photographs indicating one storeyed and more than one storyed structures raised by the Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana. iii. That there is no town planning scheme or buildings scheme in existence and the petitioners are governed by the building bye-laws in existence and there is absolutely no prohibition in raising more than one-storeyed buildings on the sites in questions u/s. 275 of the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act, 1976.

(2.) On the contrary, the stand of the Municipal Corporation is that the petitioners are bound by the terms and conditions on which the transfer of the shops was made to them, as one of the conditions mentioned in the agreement is that the petitioners cannot raise more than one storeyed structures and as such they are barred from raising further construction. It is the further case of the respondent that so far as the building activities within the municipal limits of Ludhiana are concerned, they are governed by the Municipal Corporation Act, 1976.

(3.) I have heard the learned counsel for the parties and perused the documents on the file.