Bombay High Court
Shirdi Nagar Panchayat Shirdi Through ... vs Sanjay Bhaskarrao Kale And Others on 13 February, 2020
Bench: Prasanna B. Varale, R. G. Avachat
1791.20ca
(1)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
BENCH AT AURANGABAD
CIVIL APPLICATION NO.1791 OF 2020
IN
PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION NO.86 OF 2018
Shirdi Nagar Panchayat, Shirdi,
Tq. Rahata, Dist. Ahmednagar,
Through its Chief Officer
Satish Ganpat Dighe,
Age: 35 years, Occu: Service,
R/o. Shirdi, Tq. Rahata,
Dist. Ahmednagar ..APPLICANT
VERSUS
Sanjay s/o Bhaskarrao Kale,
Age: 55 years, Occu: Social Worker
and Agriculture,
R/o. "Swapna Bhaskar",
Swami Vivekanand Nagar,
Kopargaon, Tq. Kopargaon,
Dist. Ahmednagar & ors. ..RESPONDENTS
Mr V. D. Hon, Senior Advocate i/b Mr A. V. Hon, Advocate for
applicant;
Mr Ajinkya Kale, Advocate h/f M/s Talekar & Associates for
respondent No.1
Mr S. P. Sonpawale, A.G.P. for respondent No.2;
Mr A. S. Khedkar, Advocate h/f Mr N. R. Bhavar, Advocate for
respondent No.3
CORAM : PRASANNA B. VARALE
AND
R. G. AVACHAT, JJ.
DATE : 13th February, 2020
ORAL ORDER:
Heard Mr Hon, learned Senior Advocate appearing with Mr A. V. Hon, learned Counsel for applicant.
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2. By way of present application, the applicant - Shirdi Nagar Panchayat, Shirdi through its Chief Officer, has approached this Court for seeking directions to respondent No.3 i.e. Shree Saibaba Sansthan, Shirdi to release the funds to Shirdi Nagar Panchayat for the public works as sanctioned by the State Government, from time to time.
3. It is submitted in the present application that Shirdi Nagar Panchayat has taken up the work of improvement and augmentation for providing civic services and amenities resulting into improving the facilities to Sansthan, such as, development of 24 roads, development of 3 roads in transport plan, fire brigade vehicle facilities, land acquisition proposal for development of 6 roads, development of garden, construction of E-library and beautification of road dividers, etc. It may not be necessary for us at this stage to refer to the other purposes except the purpose under Clause-1 in works chart i.e. development of 24 roads.
4. Mr Hon, learned Senior Advocate appearing for applicant invited our attention to the order dated 10 th June, 2019, passed by this Court in Civil Application No.2427 of 2019, whereby this Court appointed two members committee consisting Adv. Mr S. V. Warad and Adv. Mr Chaitanya Dharurkar. The committee was directed to ::: Uploaded on - 17/02/2020 ::: Downloaded on - 09/06/2020 10:49:40 ::: 1791.20ca (3) visit Shirdi and submit a report to this Court. Accordingly, the report is also submitted to this Court on 17 th June, 2019. A detailed report of the committee refers to the situation of Shirdi town itself, condition of the internal roads and approach roads leading to Shirdi.
5. As we are concerned with the issue of internal roads, it may be useful for our purposes to refer to the observations of the committee and it read thus:
"5.4 ..... Some of the roads mentioned in the above list are simple access routes joining two separate localities. They may not form a part of the heart of the city, however, they act as veins for traffic and satisfy the need of access- way to the local residents. From the point of view of local residents at Shirdi, the roads connecting these colonies are but a bare necessity and not a matter of luxury."
6. The committee further observed thus :
"5.5 The Committee has found that all the roads from Sr No.1 to 25, except for the road at Sr No.7 in the list (Exh.R.1) are urgently essential and necessary for civic upkeep and for maintaining the pace of development of the city.
In so far as road at Sr No.7 is concerned, the Committee, felt that no concretization of the same would be required. A simple bituminous road can serve the purpose."::: Uploaded on - 17/02/2020 ::: Downloaded on - 09/06/2020 10:49:40 :::
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7. The list of these 25 roads is annexed to the committee's report as annexure 'R-1' under the caption " Jh- lkbZckck laLFkku f"kMhZ ;kaps #- 8- 98 dksVh jDdesrwu eatqjh 25 jLrs".
8. Mr Hon, learned Senior Advocate submits before this Court that the work of roads was undertaken, tenders were floated, contract was awarded to the successful tenderer and the contractor has completed majority of the roads. The majority of the roads are completed barring 2 or 3 roads. It is the submission of Mr Hon that as the work is undertaken and nearing completion, the contractors are consistently approaching the applicant for payment of the amount due and payable to them under the terms and conditions. He further submits that the delay in releasing the funds would result in hampering the work of some of the roads and then it would lead to an extra financial burden on the applicant by paying the additional amount to the contractors and this would serve no public purpose and on the contrary, this would cause prejudice to the applicant as well as to the residents of Shirdi town. He then submits that rider was created under the order of this Court, dated 30th January, 2019 with an intention that the amount of the Sansthan received from the devotees is not mis-utilised. ::: Uploaded on - 17/02/2020 ::: Downloaded on - 09/06/2020 10:49:40 :::
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9. Considering the aforesaid aspects and also considering the fact that the present public interest litigation raises the issue of challenge to the Government Resolution, wherein an issue of purchase of the ambulances is referred to, there can not be any dispute on a submission that these internal roads is the requirement so as to avoid traffic condition in the town and providing the facilities of free access to the residents as well as to those devotees visiting the Sansthan for darshan.
10. Considering all the aforesaid aspects, we are of the opinion that Mr Hon, learned Senior Advocate appearing for the applicant has made out a case and accordingly the application stands partly allowed in terms of prayer clause (A). Respondent No.3 - Shree Saibaba Sansthan Trust, Shirdi is directed to release the funds allocated for the 25 roads under an approved amount of 8.98 Crores as per annexure 'R- 1' to the report of two members committee appointed by this Court.
11. Before parting, we state that two members committee referred to the issue of approach roads to Shirdi and it is common knowledge that these approach roads to Shirdi town are not in a good condition. It can be stated here that majority of the devotees coming from other States of the country proceed to Shirdi via Aurangabad by various means of transport, such as, by Air, by Road and by Railways. From Aurangabad to Shirdi, the road/roads, not being in good condition, the ::: Uploaded on - 17/02/2020 ::: Downloaded on - 09/06/2020 10:49:40 ::: 1791.20ca (6) period for travelling is not only expanded but it also suffers from a smooth transportation facility. It is also the common knowledge that respondent No.3 - Shree Saibaba Sansthan Trust, Shirdi receives handsome amount of donations from the devotees from the country as well as from the devotees, who are not the residents and/or the foreigners.
12. Considering the aforesaid facts, we may seek the response from respondent No.3 so as to establish the communication with the State Government and submit the proposal to the State Government to share responsibility of the State to provide good facilities of transport from Aurangabad to Shirdi. Such proposal be submitted to respondent No.2
- State of Maharashtra within a period of two weeks from today.
13. In case, respondent No.3 - Shree Saibaba Sansthan Trust, Shirdi forms a positive opinion to share the responsibility as suggested by this Court, respondent 3 - Trust to submit proposal to the State Government within a period of two weeks. The State Government, on receipt of such proposal may consider the aspect of the modalities and procedural formalities and if there is no serious rider or objection from the State Government, the State Government may also respond to the proposal positively.
The response as sought for by this Court be submitted to this ::: Uploaded on - 17/02/2020 ::: Downloaded on - 09/06/2020 10:49:40 ::: 1791.20ca (7) Court by way of short affidavit within six weeks from today.
The civil application stands partly allowed.
Authenticated copy of this order be supplied to learned Counsel appearing for respective parties.
(R. G. AVACHAT, J.) (PRASANNA B. VARALE, J.)
sjk
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