This court issued a writ of mandamus directing the Standing Committee of Corporation of Coimbatore to dispose of the petitioner's appeal regarding mosque construction permissions, by affording personal hearing opportunities, within eight weeks.
Direction to the 1st respondent to dispose of the petitioner's appeal dated 27.06.2012 within eight weeks.
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.
W.P.No.2914 of 2015
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED : 09.06.2022
CORAM
THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE M.DHANDAPANI
W.P.No.2914 of 2015
A.K.Fazullaah Khan
...Petitioner
Vs.
Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India to issue a Writ of Mandamus directing the respondents 1 and 3 to take appropriate action on the appeal dated 27.06.2012 under section 452 of the Coimbatore District Municipalities Act 1981, pending before the First Respondent in respect of granting permission for construction of the
1/8
W.P.No.2914 of 2015
building for Muslims for religious purpose at the property spanning to an extent of 2450 square feet of land bearing plot number 6 in Karuppathal lay out in survey number 264 / part in Telungupalayam village, P.N. Pudur, Coimbatore North Taluk, Coimbatore.
For Petitioner : Mr.H.Nazirudeen
For Respondents : Mr.K.Magesh, for R1 & R3 : Mr.R.P.MuruganRaja, GA, for R2 : Mr.Mohammed Fayaz Ali, for R4
O R D E R
The petitioner has filed this writ petition seeking issuance of a Writ of
Mandamus to direct the 1st respondent to dispose of the appeal dated 27.06.2012 filed by the petitioner.
2/8
W.P.No.2914 of 2015
granted permission to the petitioner to construct the Mosque, on condition that, the petitioner should proceed with further construction after obtaining necessary permission from the Corporation. Therefore, the petitioner made an application dated 09.06.2011 before the 3rd respondent, seeking issuance of building plan license in his favour. When the same was pending, the 2nd respondent, vide subsequent proceedings dated 19.07.2011 in Na.Ka.No. 11574/2011/U3, recalled his earlier orders granting permission to the petitioner for construction of Mosque and rejected the petitioner's request, based on the alleged objections made by the local residents, without providing an opportunity of hearing to the petitioner. On the other hand, the application made by the petitioner, seeking building plan license was rejected by the 3rd respondent, vide order dated 15.08.2011, challenging same, the petitioner preferred an appeal dated 22.09.2011 before the Director, Town and Country Planning, and as the same was not considered by him, the petitioner filed a Writ petition in W.P.No.1084 of 2012 and this Court, vide order dated 06.06.2012, dismissed the said petition with a liberty to the petitioner to file appropriate appeal before the competent authority. In compliance with the order of this Court, the petitioner preferred an appeal dated 27.06.2012 before the 1st respondent, however, 3/8
W.P.No.2914 of 2015
till date, no orders have been passed on the said appeal. Hence, this Writ petition.
will wound the religious feelings of any class of persons. For better appreciation, the relevant portion is extracted as follows:
268. Buildings rules.
(2) Without prejudice to the generality of the power conferred by clause (a) of sub-section (1), rules made under that clause may provide —
(a) that no insanitary or dangerous site shall be used for building, and
(b) that no site shall be used for construction of a building intended for public worship if the
4/8
W.P.No.2914 of 2015
construction, of the building thereon will wound the religious feelings of any class of persons.
In the present case, as the people of the said locality made serious objections for construction of Mosque and there arose various law and order problems in the said locality, in order to maintain peace and particularly as the subject land is not an appropriate place to construct Mosque as the land is very small and the said place cannot accommodate 5000 people at a time and there is no sufficient space for parking of vehicles, the petitioner's request was rejected. When this Court expressed its view that the petitioner has to agitate his grievance before the 1st respondent, as against the orders passed by the 3rd respondent, learned counsel fairly submitted that, the petitioner's appeal dated 27.06.2012 may be disposed of by the 1st respondent in the manner known to law.
W.P.No.2914 of 2015
per the direction of this Court, however, in view of the limited request made
by the learned counsel for the petitioner, this Court without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, directs the 1st respondent to dispose of the appeal dated 27.06.2012 filed by the petitioner, if not disposed of already, within a period of eight weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order, after affording an opportunity of personal hearing to the petitioner and the aggrieved person, if any.
accordingly disposed of. No costs.
09.06.2022
skt
Speaking Order : Yes/ No Index : Yes/ No
To
6/8
W.P.No.2914 of 2015
3. The Commissioner,
M.DHANDAPANI, J.
skt
W.P.No.2914 of 2015
7/8
W.P.No.2914 of 2015
09.06.2022
8/8
3 issues framed by the court
Whether the High Court should direct the Standing Committee to dispose of the pending appeal within a specified time.
Whether the petitioner was afforded an opportunity of personal hearing.
Whether the appeal should be disposed of by affording an opportunity of personal hearing to the aggrieved person.
3 provisions across 3 enactments
A.K.Fazullaah Khan
Standing Committee of Corporation or Council, Corporation of Coimbatore
District Collector, Coimbatore
Commissioner, Corporation of Coimbatore
Tamil Nadu Wakf Board
M.DHANDAPANI
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
