Arundhuti Basu v. The Howrah Municipal Corporation And ORS.

29.06.2026 Saswata Sl. No. AD 5 Ct. No. 03 WPA 3065 of 2026 Arundhati Basu Vs.

Howrah Municipal Corporation & ors.

Mr. Somnath Roy Chowdhury Ms. Arpita Chowdhury Mr. Anik Das ...For the petitioner Mr. Sandipan Das Mr. Tamanath Chandra ...for the private respondents Mr. Sovan Mukherjee Ms. Sneha Chatterjee .... For the State Ms. Sonal Sinha Mr. Ankit Sureka ...For the HMC

1. Alleging illegal construction at holding no. 10/1, Aprakash Mukherjee Lane, P.O. & P.S. - Shibpur, Howrah - 711102 and the failure on the part of the municipal authorities either to implement the stop work notice dated 25th February 2026 or to conclude the proceedings initiated under Section 177 of the HMC Act, 1980 (hereinafter referred to as the "said Act"), the instant writ petition has been filed.

2. When the matter was taken up on 19th June 2025 this Court had directed the municipality to carry out the inspection and file a report. Pursuant to the aforesaid a report has been filed. From the aforesaid report filed by the respondent no. 3 it would transpire that the

building in question is a G+II storied building. Though the sanction was only in respect of G+I floor, an additional floor has been constructed to which the learned advocate appearing for the private respondents would submit that it was only construction of an additional room.

3. Having heard the learned advocates appearing for the respective parties and noting that the municipality has already initiated a proceeding under Section 177(1) of the said Act, I am of the view that the aforesaid proceeding should be brought to close on an expeditious basis preferably within 12 weeks from the date of communication of this order.

4. With the above direction, the writ petition is disposed of.

5. All parties shall act on the basis of server copy of this order duly downloaded from this Court's official website.` (Raja Basu Chowdhury, J.)