Bombay High Court
Cogent Enterprises Ltd. Company vs Lonavala Municipal Council And ... on 3 May, 2017
Bench: Naresh H. Patil
1
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
WRIT PETITION NO. 5383 OF 2017
Cogent Enterprises Ltd. .. Petitioner
Versus
1. Lonavala Municipal Council and ors. .. Respondents
Mr. Atul Damale, Sr. Advocate with Samji Joseph and Somnath Gaikwad
i/by Uni Lex for petitioner.
Mr. A. A. Garge for respondent nos.1 to 3.
CORAM: NARESH H. PATIL &
DR. SHALINI PHANSALKAR-JOSHI, JJ.
MAY 03, 2017.
ORAL JUDGMENT (Per Naresh H. Patil,J) :
1. Rule. Rule is made returnable forthwith. Heard finally by
consent of the parties.
2. The petitioner prays for setting aside the notice dated
24/4/2017 under Section 53(1) of the Maharashtra Regonal Town Planning
Act, 1966, issued by the Lonavala Municipal Council.
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3. By an order dated 26/7/2016 the Division Bench of this Court
(Coram: Ranjit More and Anuja Prabhudessai,JJ) disposed of the Writ
Petition No. 8578 of 2016, filed by the present petitioner, with certain
directions. Para 5 of the said order read as under:-
"5. In the interests of justice, during the pendency and till
the disposal of the petitioner's application for regularization,
both the parties to the petition shall maintain status-quo as of
today regarding the offending structure which is the subject
matter of the notice under challenge."
4. Learned Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioner submits
that the application is still kept pending by the respondent no. 1- Council.
Instead, the respondent no.1 issued impugned notice dated 24/4/2017
(annexed at page 21 of the petition) for demolition of the subject structure.
The petitioner prays for following substantive relief:
"(a) That this Hon'ble Court be pleased to set aside the
Notice dated 24/4/2017 as illegal, bad in law;
(b) That this Hon'ble Court be pleased to issue a Writ in the
nature of `mandamus' or any other nature as the Hon'ble
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deem fit and proper directing the respondents not to
take any further action on the basis of the impugned
notice dated 24/04/2017 and not to demolish the
structure till decision on the application for approval of
revised plan submitted on 05/08/2016;
(c) That show-cause notice for Contempt for Court may be
issued against all respondents;
5. Learned counsel appearing for respondents - Council, on
instructions from Mr. Pramod Punaji Dhanke, Assistant Town Planner,
Lonavala, who is present in court, submits that Assistant Director, Town
Planner, Pune Region, Pune informed about the deficiencies in the proposal
by communication dated 21/11/2016. Learned counsel also refers to
further communication dated 27/7/2016, based on which the respondents-
Council issued the impugned notice under Section 53(1) of the MRTP Act,
1966.
6. It is surprising to note that though the Division Bench of this
court issued direction on 26/7/2016 in Writ Petition No. 8578 of 2016,
respondents-Council still issued the impugned notice dated 24/4/2017
informing the petitioner that subject structure would be demolished. The
petitioner, therefore, prayed for issuance of show-cause notice for
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contempt against the respondents. Instead of issuing notice at this stage,
we direct the Chief Officer of the Lonavala Municipal Council to call for
explanation from the officer who signed the impugned notice issued to the
petitioner.
7. Learned counsel appearing for the respondents-Council
submits that decision shall be taken on the proposal / application for
regularization filed by the petitioner as expeditiously as possible and not
later than four weeks from today.
8. In view of the statement made as above and directions given,
we quash and set aside the impugned notice dated 24/4/2017 issued by the
respondents-Council under Section 53(1) of the MRTP Act, 1966.
9. Rule is made absolute in the above terms.
10. Registry to forward a copy of this judgment to the Principal
Secretary, Urban Development Department, Mantralaya, Mumbai.
(DR. SHALINI PHANSALKAR-JOSHI,J.) (NARESH H. PATIL,J.)
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