Gujarat High Court
Bhartiben Keshavbhai Khati vs State Of Gujarat & 2 on 2 February, 2016
Author: R.M.Chhaya
Bench: R.M.Chhaya
C/SCA/1623/2016 ORDER
IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 1623 of 2016
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BHARTIBEN KESHAVBHAI KHATI....Petitioner(s)
Versus
STATE OF GUJARAT & 2....Respondent(s)
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Appearance:
MR ASHISH M DAGLI, ADVOCATE for the Petitioner(s) No. 1
MR MANAN MEHTA, AGP for the Respondent(s) No. 1
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CORAM: HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE R.M.CHHAYA
Date : 02/02/2016
ORAL ORDER
1. By way of this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner has mainly prayed for the following reliefs:-
"(B) That this Hon'ble Court may be pleased to allow this petition by issuing an appropriate writ, order or direction directing the respondent No.2 to take appropriate suitable action against the erring officer of the Municipality for deliberately not complying the order passed by this Hon'ble Court in Special Civil Application No.14548 of 2012 in the interest of justice.
(C) This Hon'ble Court may be pleased to allow this petition by issuing appropriate writ, order or direction to direct the respondent authorities to comply with the order of this Hon'ble Court passed on dated 24.06.2013 in Special Civil Application No.14548 of 2012 in the interest of justice."
2. It is required to be noted that earlier the petitioner has prayed for almost similar reliefs by way of writ petition being Special Civil Application No.14548 of 2012, wherein this Court, on the statement made by learned Page 1 of 4 HC-NIC Page 1 of 4 Created On Thu Feb 04 02:05:45 IST 2016 C/SCA/1623/2016 ORDER counsel for respondent No.3 - Municipality, disposed of the matter by observing as under:-
"The petitioner has filed this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India with the following main prayers:
[A] That the Hon'ble Court may be pleased to admit this petition.
[B] That the Hon'ble Court may be pleased to allow this Special Civil Application by issuing an appropriate writ, order or direction to the respondent authority in turn to take appropriate action in view of the issuance of notices at Annexure-G dated 9.11.2011, 12.3.2012 and 21.4.2012 and as per the assurance given in Swagat On-line Karyakram by Chief Officer of Nagarpalika on 26.4.2012 at Annexure-J in the facts and circumstances of the present case in reference to the common plot No.1 [survey No.391 Chhaya] in the facts and circumstances of the case and in the interest of justice.
[C] This Hon'ble Court may be pleased to issue appropriate writ, order or direction directing the respondent Collector who also in turn to take appropriate suitable action against erring officer of Nagarpalika of deliberately not taking any action in spite of the clear order direction issued from the office of Collector at Annexures-M & N in the facts and circumstances of the present case.
Having heard learned advocates for the parties and in view of the statement made by Mr. Buch, learned advocate for the respondent No.1 that they will take action in accordance with law for the time being I am inclined to grant prayer in terms of para 23[B] to take action in accordance with law.
Accordingly, this petition stands disposed of. Notice is discharged. There shall be no order as to costs
3. Thereafter, the petitioner through his advocate also gave a legal notice to Collector, Porbandar. It appears that the said order was taken into consideration by the authorities like City Survey Superintendent and District Collector, Porbandar, which is quite evident from communications dated 11.07.2013 and 23.08.2013 at Annexure:E in particular.
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4. It further reveals that respondent No.3-Municipality issued notice as per the order passed by this Court to the affected persons on 25.09.2013. The said order was challenged by affected persons by way of filing Regular Civil Suit No.164 of 2013, wherein the affected persons who were the plaintiffs in the suit also prayed for temporary injunction by way of an application at Exh:5, which came to be rejected vide order dated 07.08.2014 by learned Additional Senior Civil Judge, Porbandar. The said order was again challenged by way of preferring Misc. Civil Appeal No.19 of 2014, which also has been dismissed by learned Additional District Judge, Porbandar vide order dated 29.11.2014.
5. Record further indicates that thereafter, the petitioner approached District Collector, Porbandar by communication dated 18.04.2015, but thereafter, as nothing was done, the petitioner filed Misc. Civil Application (for direction) No.2449 of 2013 before this Court (Coram :
Hon'ble Mr.Justice K.M.Thaker), which came to be disposed of vide order dated 10.09.2014. Thereafter, present petition is filed.
6. Record further indicates that respondent No.3 has also issued fresh notice on 25.07.2015 to the affected Page 3 of 4 HC-NIC Page 3 of 4 Created On Thu Feb 04 02:05:45 IST 2016 C/SCA/1623/2016 ORDER persons, however, no actions are taken.
7. In light of the fact that respondent No.3 Municipality has made statement before this Court on basis of which the earlier dated 24.06.2013 passed by this Court in Special Civil Application No.14548 of 2012, District Collector, Porbandar is hereby directed to look into the application dated 18.04.2015 addressed by the petitioner and take appropriate steps to see that the order dated 24.06.2013 passed by this Court in Special Civil Application No.14548 of 2012 is complied with. It is clarified that this Court has not expressed any opinion on merits and the authority including the District Collector shall have to adhere to the basic principles of natural justice before taking any action.
With these observations, the petition stands disposed of.
Direct Service is permitted.
(R.M.CHHAYA, J.) Suchit Page 4 of 4 HC-NIC Page 4 of 4 Created On Thu Feb 04 02:05:45 IST 2016