Calcutta High Court (Appellete Side)
Bengal Bonded Warehouse Ltd vs Morris Baflour & on 1 December, 2017
Author: Aniruddha Bose
Bench: Aniruddha Bose
1
01.12.2017
15
Ct. No.24 M.A.T. 1755 of 2017
CHC
(Assigned)
with
C.A.N.9918 of 2017
Bengal Bonded Warehouse Ltd. Vs. Morris Baflour &
ors.
With
MAT 1757 of 2017
(Assigned)
Bengal Bonded Warehouse Ltd. vs. N. Sengupta & Co.
represented by its proprietor Parimal Acharya & ors.
With
MAT 1758 of 2017
(Assigned)
Bengal Bonded Warehouse Ltd. vs. Digbijoy Express
Pvt. Ltd.
With
MAT 1759 of 2017
(Assigned)
Bengal Bonded Warehouse Ltd. vs. Salik Ram Mishra
& ors.
With
MAT 1760 of 2017
(Assigned)
Bengal Bonded Warehouse Ltd. vs. Jagadamba
Enterprises, proprietor Sunil Kumar Dutta & ors.
With
MAT 1761 of 2017
(Assigned)
Bengal Bonded Warehouse Ltd. vs. AD line, a sole
proprietorship form owned by Indrajit Banerjee & ors.
With
MAT 1762 of 2017
(Assigned)
Bengal Bonded Warehouse Ltd. vs. The A to Z
Company, a partnership firm being represented by its
Partner Prithwi Guha Neogy & ors.
With
MAT 1763 of 2017
(Assigned)
Bengal Bonded Warehouse Ltd. vs. Dinesh Kumar
Agarwal & ors.
With
2
MAT 1764 of 2017
(Assigned)
Bengal Bonded Warehouse Ltd. vs. Volman Treading
Corporation, a sole propreitorship firm owned by
Gautam Mukherjee & ors.
With
MAT 1765 of 2017
(Assigned)
Bengal Bonded Warehouse Ltd. vs. Fashion Kraft AND
COMPANY REPRESENTED BY ITS SOLE
PROPRIETORS Subhra Acharya & ors.
With
MAT 1766 of 2017
(Assigned)
Bengal Bonded Warehouse Ltd. vs. Jitendra Mishra &
ors.
With
MAT 1767 of 2017
(Assigned)
Bengal Bonded Warehouse Ltd. vs. Rayes Agency, a
proprietorship firm being represented by its sole
proprietor Satya Prakash Dutta & ors.
With
MAT 1768 of 2017
(Assigned)
Bengal Bonded Warehouse Ltd. vs. Errand Express
Ltd. & ors.
With
MAT 1769 of 2017
(Assigned)
Bengal Bonded Warehouse Ltd. vs. J. N. Mukherjee
Co. Pvt. Ltd. & ors.
With
APOT 203 of 2017
Bengal Bonded Warehouse Ltd. vs. Paschim Banga
Krishi Upakaran Byabsayik Kalyan Samity & ors.
With
W.P.432 of 2017
With
APOT 204 of 2017
Bengal Bonded Warehouse Ltd. & anr. vs. Bengal
Banded Warehouse Tenants' Welfare Asso. & ors.
With
3
W.P.410 of 2017
With
APOT 205 of 2017
Bengal Bonded Warehouse Ltd. vs. ICAEDU Skills Pvt.
Ltd. & ors.
With
W.P.380 of 2017
With
APOT 206 of 2017
Bengal Bonded Warehouse Ltd. vs. Swapan Kr. Bhadra
& ors.
With
W.P.411 of 2017
with
APOT 207 of 2017
Bengal Bonded Warehouse Ltd. vs. M/s. Friend's
Stores & ors.
With
W.P.399 of 2017
with
APOT 208 of 2017
Bengal Bonded Warehouse Ltd. vs. M/s. Tantia
Constructions Ltd. & ors.
With
W.P.382 of 2017
With
APOT 209 of 2017
Bengal Bonded Warehouse Ltd. vs. M/s. Baijnath &
Sons & ors.
With
W.P.437 of 2017
With
APOT 210 of 2017
Kailash Chandra Joshi & anr. vs. Naresh Chandra Das
& ors.
With
G.A.2182 of 2017
W.P.453 of 2016
MR.ABHRAJIT MITRA,SR.ADVOCATE, MR. SARVOPRIYO
MUKHERJEE, MR.ARINDAM BANERJEE, MS.PRITHA BASU,
MS.A.CHATTERJEE, MS.S.BASU, MS. RAJSHREE
MUKHERJEE,ADVOCATES FOR APPELLANTS
MR.NIRMALYA DASGUPTA, MS.PRIYANKA DHAR, ADVOCATES FOR
NIPHA SALES.
MR.MAINAK BOSE, MS.PIYALI SENGUPTA, MR.S.K.BAID, ADVOCATES FOR
4
RESPONDENT
MR.RUPAK GHOSH, MR.AYAN BARAL, ADVOCATES FOR MORRIS BALFOUR MR.K.K.MAITRA,SR.ADVOCATE, MR.D.S.BANERJEE, MR.APU BISWAS, ADVOCATES FOR RESPONDENT NOS.1 TO 39 MR.ASHOK KR.BANERJEE,SR.ADVOCATE, MR.ALAK KR.GHOSH, MR.SWAPAN KR.DEBNATH, MR.D.MANDAL, ADVOCATES FOR KMC MR.KRISHNA DAS PODDAR ADVOCATE FOR RESPONDENT NO.1 IN MAT NO.1755 OF 2017 MR.S.N.MITRA, SR.ADVOCATE, MR.S.BHATTACHARYA, MR.A.ROY, MR.JAYANTA SENGUPTA, MR.RATUL DAS, MR.SAGNIK BASU, MS.N.BAHAL, ADVOCATES FOR RESPONDENT IN ICA EDUSKILLS MR.MANOJ MALHOTRA, MR.SUMAN DEY, ADVOCATES FOR STATE MS. SHYAMALI DAS.....(IN PERSON) MR. P.S. BHATTACHARYYA, SR. ADVOCATE, MR. SANKAR HALDER, FOR RESPONDENT NO. 1 & 2 MR. MAHENDRA PRASAD GUPTA, MR. ANIMESH PAUL, FOR THE RESPONDENT/WRIT PETITIONER IN APOT 209 OF 2017 We have perused the communication of Dr. S. Saraswati, Professor of Jadavpur University dated 30th November, 2017. He has requested for extension of time to carry out our order passed on 24th November, 2017.
In our order of 24th November, 2017 we had, inter alia, directed:
'Before proceeding further with hearing of these appeals, we request the Department of Construction Engineering Jadavpur University to apprise us by a 5 report on stability of the building at 27, N.S. Bose Road. In particular, we wish to be apprised of the position if the urgent repair as directed by the order of the learned First Court in relation to building no.27, N.S.Bose Road is carried out, whether the expert body of the University would alter their position to the extent the same recommended demolition of that building. In course of hearing today, our notice was brought to the following portion of the order dated 22nd September, 2017:-
" The interim order shall not be operative in respect of this portion also but if any one takes any step to break down this portion, the same shall be done without in any manner affecting all other portions of the said premises. The occupants of 27, N.S.Bose Road and in particular the writ petitioners shall be at liberty to repair such portions of the said building which requires urgent repair at their own cost in consultation with K.M.C.. This will, however, not create any 6 extra right or equity in their favour.
If the protruding verandah referred above is repairable and is repaired by the writ petitioners at their own cost in consultation with the K.M.C., it may not be necessary to break down the same. The writ petitioners must keep in their mind that the safety of people is of paramount importance and life or limbs cannot be put at any kind of risk."
The report shall be produced before this Court on 1st December, 2017.' We find from the communication of Dr. S. Saraswati that the extension of time is being asked for the reason specified in the following part of his communication:-
"In this connection I would like to inform you that as per order we have to review on the existing condition of the above structure and to comment on stability of the structure for further use. For investigation of existing structural condition, we have to conduct several Non Destructive Tests and thorough visual observation."7
Occupants of the building have submitted that the building is in urgent need of repairs whereas the KMC along with the landlord are of the view that repair will not bolster the structural stability of the buildings and demolition is the only option. It is for this reason we had wanted at this stage opinion on the limited point as to whether the urgent repair as directed by the learned First Court in relation to the building identified as building no.27 is carried out, whether the expert body of the university would alter their recommendation for demolition of the entire building. For this limited purpose, in our view two weeks time may be taken by Dr. S. Saraswati. Prayer on behalf of the occupants was made for commencing the repair work. This prayer was strongly resisted by Mr. Ashok Kr. Banerjee, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and Mr. Mitra, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the landlord. They want to ensure that the building ought to be demolished being unsafe.
Mr. S. N. Mitra, learned Senior Counsel appears in APOT 205 of 2017 for respondent no.1 and he submits that his client is only interested in 8 the building no.27 which is to be inspected. He wants inspection to be done by the University on notice. We however direct the inspection to be carried on during working hours on any working day.
We request Jadavpur University to give us a report by 12th December, 2017 on this limited aspect.
These matters shall be listed under the heading "To Be Mentioned" on 13th December, 2017 at 10.30 A.M. Let this order be communicated to Jadavpur University by the Registry forthwith.
(Aniruddha Bose, J.) (Arindam Sinha, J.) 9