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Showing contexts for: land pulling in Municipal Corporation Of The City ... vs State Of Gujarat & Ors on 27 March, 1972Matching Fragments
(a) require the owner of such building to show cause within such period as is specified in such notice by a statement in writing subscribed by him or by an agent duly authorised by him in that behalf and addressed to the Commissioner, why such building or any part thereof which is within the regular line of the street shall not be pulled down and the land within the said line, acquired by the Commissioner; or
(b) require the said owner on such day at such time and place as shall be specified in such notice to attend personally or by an agent duly authorised by him in that behalf and show cause why such building or any part thereof which is within the regular line of the street shall not be pulled down and the land within the said line acquired by the Commissioner.
(2) If such owner fails to show sufficient cause to the satisfaction of the Commissioner why such building or any part thereof, which is within the regular line of the street shall not be pulled down and the land within the said line acquired as aforesaid the Commissioner may, with the approval of the Standing Committee, require the owner by a written notice, to pull down the building or the part thereof which is within the regular line of the street (and where a part of a building is required to be pulled down, to also enclose the remaining part by putting up a protecting frontage wall) within such period as is prescribed in the notice.
These relevant provisions which have been quoted above at one place show that where the Commissioner acquires land for the purposes of the street by asking the owner of the land to pull down his building or part of it, the owner is entitled to be paid compensation for the loss suffered by him. The compensation must, in the first instance, be determined by the Commissioner- or an Officer authorised by him in that behalf and if, on determination of such compensation, the owner of the building who loses any part of the land to the street is aggrieved by the amount of compensation offered to him, he is entitled to appeal to the Judge of the Small Causes Court and to the District Court in second appeal. It is obvious that if the owner is not sufficiently compensated for the loss suffered by him by the Commissioner or his authorised Officer, the Judge in the Court of Small Causes or the District Judge, as the case may be, would be entitled to determine the proper compensation to be paid to him.
212. Under the latter section what is acquired for the purposes of the street is the land of the owner which falls within the regular line of the street. Several provisions are made in Chapter XIV for the widening of streets within the limits of the Corporation. With the enormous increase in traffic in the more congested parts of a growing City, Municipal authorities are constantly under pressure to widen the, streets and one of the several methods prescribed in Chapter XIV is contained in section 212. The regular line of the street as prescribed under section 210 often passes through the 'properties of owners abutting on the streets and it is impossible to widen the streets unless parts of lands belonging to the owners are acquired. Sometimes a building or a structure or part of it stands on such land and unless that portion of the building which falls within the line is removed the, acquisition of the land for the purpose of the street is not possible. Therefore, in the first instance the section requires that the Commissioner shall issue a show cause notice why the buildings or a part of the building which falls within the line of street should not be pulled down with a view to release the underneath fur the purposes of the, street. If after hearing the owner the Commissioner is of the opinion that the building or part thereof should be pulled down, he must obtain the, approval of the Standing Committee and then serve a notice on the owner to pull down the offending building or part of building within a 1208 Sup. CI/72 certain time. If the owner cooperates, he will himself remove the offending structure and release the land underneath it for being absorbed in the street. If he does not, the Commissioner is empowered to pull down the offending structure at the cost of the owner. Then sub- section (4) of section 212 provides that the Commissioner shall at once take possession on behalf of the Corporation of the portion of the land within the said line (line of the public street) theretofore occupied by the said building, and such land shall thence forward be deemed a part of the public street and shall vest as such in the Corporation. The provisions of section 212, therefore, clearly declare that what is acquired under that section is the land lying within the line of the public street. The technical question as to whether there is acquisition of the building when the owner himself does not pull down the. offending part of the structure but the Commissioner does it at the owner's expense is not necessary for the disposal of the question whether the Act provides for the payment of compensation. Since every kind of loss is required to be compensated as a, consequence of the order passed by the Commissioner under section 216 of the Act, the question whether the Act need have provided for compensation as on the acquisition of the building or a part of the building which is pulled down under section 212, does not survive. The owner. has to be compensated for every deprivation or loss and, therefore, prima facie 'it must be held that the Corporations Act provides for the payment of compensation for the property acquired.