Petitioner sought direction to dispose of his building permit application denied by the Municipality. Court held ownership rights persist under DTP schemes pending acquisition, granting liberty to issue purchase notice de hors the scheme.
Granted liberty to issue purchase notice under Section 67 of Kermala Town and Country Planning Act within fifteen days.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
PRESENT
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE DEVAN RAMACHANDRAN
WEDNESDAY, THE 04TH DAY OF DECEMBER 2019 / 13TH AGRAHAYANA, 1941
WP(C).No.3908 OF 2019(K)
PETITIONER:
D.SUGATHAN, AGED 66 YEARS S/O.K DIVAKARAN, KRISHNAKRIPA, PEOPLES NAGAR, KOLLAM-691001. BY ADVS. SRI.KALEESWARAM RAJ SRI.VARUN C.VIJAY KUM.A.ARUNA KUM.THULASI K. RAJ SMT.RIYA RAYMOL IYPE SMT.MAITREYI SACHIDANANDA HEGDE
RESPONDENTS:
| 1 | STATE OF KERALA, REPRESENTED BY THE SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT, DEPARTMENT OF LOCAL SELF GOVERNMENT, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM-695001. |
|---|---|
| 2 | THE DIRECTOR OF PANCHAYATHS, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM-695001. |
| 3 | KOLLAM MUNICIPAL CORPORATION, |
| REPRESENTED BY ITS SECRETARY, KOLLAM MUNICIPAL CORPORATION, KOLLAM-691001. |
|
| 4 | SECRETARY, |
| KOLLAM MUNICIPAL CORPORATION, KOLLAM-691001. | |
| 5 | TOWN PLANNING OFFICER, DISTRICT TOWN PLANNING OFFICE, KOLLAM-691001. |
| 6 | MUNICIPAL COUNCIL, REPRESENTED BY ITS CHAIRMAN, KOLLAM MUNICIPAL CORPORATION, KOLLAM-691001. |
| R3-4 BY SRI.M.K.CHANDRA MOHAN DAS,SC,KOLLAM MPT R5 BY GOVERNMENT PLEADER |
|
| GP RAJI T.BHASKAR | |
| THIS 04.12.2019, |
WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) HAVING BEEN FINALLY HEARD ON THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING: |
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JUDGMENT
The petitioner has approached this Court praying that his application for construction of a building in his property, within the territorial confines of the Kollam Municipal Corporation, namely Ext.P2, be directed to be taken up and disposed of at the earliest, asserting that even though this application was made along with Ext.P3 site plan as early as on 27.06.2018, the same has been refused to be considered, presumably because the Secretary of the Municipality feels that under the Master Plan or the Detailed Town Planning Scheme (DTP Scheme) for the Kollam Town, no construction is possible on account of the proposed widening of the road in front of the property in question.
part of the Secretary to keep his application pending indefinitely, particularly when, admittedly, no steps have been taken for widening of the road and because the same has already been widened to an extent of 22 metres.
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the Municipality be directed to take up his Ext.P2 application and dispose of the same at the earliest de hors the Master Plan or the DTP Scheme.
the afore lines, the fact remains that it has already been declared by this Court through a catena of judgments, that when the Master Plan or DTP Scheme provides for compulsory acquisition of a land, it does not mean that its owner cannot use it ad infinitum until such processes are taken forward and completed by the competent Authority. It has been now well declared that in such circumstances, the owner of the land gets
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the right to issue a purchase notice under Section 67 of the of the Kerala Town and Country Planning Act, and that if it is not considered within the statutory period or rejected, then his application for building permit will certainly have to be considered de hors such provisions of the DTP Scheme or the Master Plan. I am certain that the petitioner also must be entitled to the said relief in the writ petition. (see for support :
Regional Town Planner and Another v. Muhammed Rasheed and Others [2019 (3) KHC 987] and District Town Planner, Malappuram and Others v. Vinod and Others [2019 (3) KHC 673]).
Resultantly, I order this writ petition and grant liberty to the petitioner to issue a purchase notice under Section 67 of the Kerala Town and Country Planning Act; and if this is done within a period of fifteen days from the date of receipt of a copy of this judgment, the competent Authority of the Municipality will consider the same and issue orders thereon within the statutory period.
Needless to say, if the purchase notice is rejected or orders thereon are not issued within the statutory period, then
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WP(C).No.3908 OF 2019(K)
the Secretary of the Municipality will be obligated to consider the application of the petitioner for Building Permit and issue orders thereon de hors the provisions of the Master Plan and DTP Scheme, as expeditiously as is possible, but not later than one month after the statutory period for consideration of the application to be made by the petitioner in terms of this judgment expires.
This writ petition is thus ordered.
Sd/-
DEVAN RAMACHANDRAN
nak
JUDGE
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APPENDIX
PETITIONER'S/S EXHIBITS:
| EXHIBIT P1 | A TRUE COPY OF THE COMMUNICATION NO.PW4/BA/81/15-16 DATED 20.11.2015 ISSUED BY THE TOWN PLANNING OFFICE, KOLLAM. |
|---|---|
| EXHIBIT P2 | A TRUE COPY OF THE APPLICATION SUBMITTED BEFORE THE 4TH RESPONDENT IN JUNE, 2018. |
| EXHIBIT P3 | A TRUE COPY OF THE SITE PLAN SUBMITTED ALONG WITH EXT.P2. |
| EXHIBIT P4 | A TRUE COPY OF THE DETAILED TOWN PLANNING SCHEME FOR KADAPPAKADA AND SURROUNDINGS IN QUILON TOWN. |
| EXHIBIT P5 | A TRUE COPY OF THE COMMUNICATION DATED 28.9.2015 ISSUED BY THE TOWN PLANNING DEPARTMENT KOLLAM TO THE 4TH RESPONDENT. |
| EXHIBIT P6 | A TRUE COPY OF THE COMMUNICATION NO.PW3- 17306/18 DATED 26.4.2018 ISSUED BY THE PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER ENGINEERING SECTION OF KOLLAM MUNICIPAL CORPORATION. |
| EXHIBIT P7 | TRUE COPY OF G.O(MS)NO.69/2010/LSGD TOGETHER WITH DEVELOPMENT PLAN DATED 6.4.2010. |
| EXHIBIT P8 | A TRUE COPY OF THE REPRESENTATION DATED 31.1.2019 SUBMITTED BEFORE THE 4TH RESPONDENT. |
| EXHIBIT P9 | A TRUE COPY OF THE REPRESENTATION DATED 31.1.2019 SUBMITTED BEFORE THE 6TH RESPONDENT. |
//TRUE COPY// P.A. TO JUDGE
2 issues framed by the court
Whether an owner of land subjected to compulsory acquisition under District Town Planning Scheme can be denied building permit rights until acquisition is completed.
Whether the competent authority must consider a building permit application when no steps have been taken for road widening as proposed in the Master Plan.
Colour shows how this judgement treated each authority
Regional Town Planner and Another v. Muhammed Rasheed and OthersReferred¶25
_Regional Town Planner and Another v. Muhammed Rasheed and Others_ [2019 (3) KHC 987]
District Town Planner, Malappuram and Others v. Vinod and OthersReferred¶25
_District Town Planner, Malappuram and Others v. Vinod and Others_ [2019 (3) KHC 673]
1 provisions across 1 enactments
D.SUGATHAN
STATE OF KERALA
THE DIRECTOR OF PANCHAYATHS
KOLLAM MUNICIPAL CORPORATION
SECRETARY OF KOLLAM MUNICIPAL CORPORATION
TOWN PLANNING OFFICER
DEVAN RAMACHANDRAN
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
