Mini Haridashan v. The Port Blair Municipal Council And ORS
IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA
[ CIRCUIT BENCH AT PORT BLAIR ] *** WPA/196/2024 Mini Haridashan Vs.
The Port Blair Municipal Council and Others With WPA/197/2024 A. Siromani Vs.
The Port Blair Municipal Council and Others Ms. G.Mini .... for the petitioners [on behalf of Mr.K. Vijay Kumar] Mr. Shatadru Chakraborty Mr. Dibesh Dwivedi ... for the respondents March 22, 2024 [SR] Item Nos.1 & 2 Heard Ms. G.Mini, learned counsel holding brief of Shri K.Vijay Kumar, learned counsel for the petitioners and Mr. Shatadru Chakraborty, learned counsel for the respondents. With the consent of learned counsels for the parities, both the writ petitions are being finally heard.
On 21.03.2024, this Court passed the following order:- "Shri Shatadru Chakraborty, learned counsel for the respondents prays for and is granted a day's time to obtain instructions in writing from the competent authority/ respondents as to whether the petitioner may be provided an alternative temporary structure accommodation to run his business during the period the building in question is demolished and reconstructed and the petitioner is allotted a shop.
Put up tomorrow (22.03.2024)."
Today, learned counsel for the respondents has produced before this Court a minutes of the meeting dated 21.03.2024 held in
the chamber of the Superintending Engineer, Port Blair Municipal Council, which is reproduced below:- "Minutes of the meeting held in the Chamber of the Superintending Engineer, PBMC on 21.03.2024 (Thursday) at 3.00 PM A Meeting was held in the Chamber of the Superintending Engineer, PBMC on 21.03.2024 (Thursday) at 3.00 PM. The following persons were present.
1. The Superintending Engineer, PBMC
2. The Account Officer-I, PBMC
3. The Tax Inspector (Market Rent),PBMC Representative of shops:-
1. Shri K. Ganeshan
2. Shri N. Guruswamy
3. Shri R. Upendran
4. Shri T.Dinesh Kumar
5. Shri R Murugesan
6. Representative of Late Monika Bhowal The Superintending Engineer welcome the representative of shops and stated that the condition of the Shopping Complex of Delanipur is in dilapidated condition and needs to be demolished.
He further stated that an alternative temporary allotment will be done to the tenants of the complex in the parking space near community hall Ward No.07, for which a minimum of Rs.1,500/- to Rs.2000/- will be charged.
We also stated that the tenants of the market may continue to stay in the said complex till the paper work of the such as building plan sanction of estimate fund is completed. The representative of the shops agreed with the proposal and express their gratitude to the PBMC officials." Learned counsel for the petitioners submits that the petitioners are ready to shift in temporary accommodation but construction of the complex for allotting permanent accommodation to the petitioners may be expeditiously completed by the respondents and till shops in the proposed newly constructed complex are allotted to them, their continuance in the temporary
accommodation mentioned in the afore-quoted minutes of the meeting dated 21.03.2024 may not be disturbed. Learned counsel for the respondents submits that the respondents themselves intend to provide a temporary alternative accommodation of shops to the petitioners which shall be provided in the parking space near community hall in Ward No.07 and tenants of the market i.e., the petitioners may continue to stay/run their shops in the said complex till paper formalities are completed. I have considered the submissions of the learned counsels for the parties and perused the afore-quoted, minutes of the meeting. Considering the facts and circumstances, the submissions of the learned counsel for the parties, minutes of the meeting dated 21.03.2024 and to balance the equity so that the petitioners may not face discontinuance of their business, these writ petitions are being disposed of with the following directions:- (i) The respondents shall allot alternative temporary shops to the petitioners on the proposed place, expeditiously preferably within one month.
(ii) The respondents shall complete the proposed permanent construction and shall allot shops to the petitioners as far as possible approximately of the area as is being presently occupied by the petitioners, soon after the construction and other formalities are completed. It is made clear that the size of shops proposed to be allotted in the proposed complex may vary and the petitioners shall not insist for allotment of shops of the same area as is being presently occupied by them. (iii) Till permanent shops in the proposed complex are allotted to the petitioners, they shall be allowed to continue in the
alternative temporary place as proposed in the afore-quoted minutes of the meeting dated 21.03.2024.
With the aforesaid directions, both the petitions are disposed of.
( Surya Prakash Kesarwani, J. )