Andaman Paints Private Limited And Anothers v. Directorate Of Industries And Anothers
02.02.2022 rc/ct.no.10 Item No.01 WPA No. 7 of 2022 Andaman Paints Pvt. Ltd. & Anr.
Vs.
Directorate of Industries, Port Blair, Andaman & Nicober Administration & Anr.
(Circuit Bench at Port Blair) Mr. Victor Dutta Mr. Sourojit Dasgupta ...for the petitioners Mr. Shatadru Chakraborty Mr. Ramendu Agarwal ...for the respondents The contention of the petitioners, in a nutshell is that by virtue of deeds of lease dated April 2, 1993, April 15, 1996 and August 29, 2001 the plot in question was allotted in favour of the petitioners for 15 years for the purpose of setting up a manufacturing unit. The petitioners were engaged in manufacturing and industrial activities in the said plot till they were ousted therefrom sometime in September, 2021. Notice under Section 4(1) and 4(2) of the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971 (hereinafter referred to as "the said Act") was served upon the petitioners on December 13, 2021 and the lease granted to the petitioners was revoked/cancelled by the authority by an order dated September 7/8, 2021. The petitioners pray for a direction upon the authority to revoke the said cancellation and reinstate the petitioner in the premises in question.
It is submitted by the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondents that in breach of the terms of the deeds of lease, the petitioners utilised a portion of the property as a residential unit which has also been admitted by the petitioners in the writ petition as well as in the letters issued by the petitioners to the authority and as such, the deeds of lease were cancelled on the said ground. In reply, learned counsel appearing for the petitioners submits that only a room in the first floor of the unit was being utilised for residential purposes and the manufacturing/ industrial unit was continuing in the remaining part of the premises all throughout. Having heard the contentions of the learned counsels appearing on behalf of the parties, this Court is of the view that as a proceeding under Sections 4(1) and 4(2) of the said Act has been initiated, the authority should be directed to bring the proceeding to its logical conclusion within a stipulated period of time.
Accordingly, WPA No. 7 of 2022 is disposed of directing the respondents to conclude the proceeding under Sections 4(1) and 4(2) of the said Act after giving reasonable opportunity of hearing of all the interested parties including the petitioners, in accordance with law, within a period of two months from the date of communication of this order.
Since the writ petition has been filed in January, 2022 despite the petitioners being allegedly ousted from
the plot in question sometime in September, 2021 and also as the proceeding under the said Act is in progress, no interim order is called for.
With the above observations and directions this writ petition being WPA No. 7 of 2022 is disposed of. There shall be, however, no order as to costs. Since no affidavit is invited, the allegations contained in the petition are deemed not to be admitted. Urgent certified website copy of this order, if applied for, be furnished to the parties upon compliance of necessary formalities.
(Suvra Ghosh,J)