Nagpur: JUSTICE Atul Chandurkar and Justice Vrushali V Joshi, at the High court here, have dismissed the writ petition filed by Western Referigeration Engineering and nine other businessmen tenants, upholding the impugned notice of March 5, 2021, served by the Nagpur Municipal Corporation for pulling down the dilapidated 65 years old premises occupied by these petitioners,at 36, Great Nag Road.
The notice was issued by the City Corporation on the request of the owners of the said prem- ises, namely, Ritesh Surendra Khanna, Unnat Surendra Khanna and Rama Arun Khanna.
Besides the notice, the peti- tioners had also challenged the constitutionality of section 433 Aof the Maharashtra Municipal Corporations Act, 1949, since it bars the questioning of a notice issued under section 264 of the Act of 1949, in any suit. or legal proceedings
As the first two structural Audit Reports submitted to the HC were contradictory to each other-favouring pulling down fully the dilapidated structure or only in part, the third audit was got done by an independ- ent entity-the VNIT, which was submitted by the VNIT on July 28, 2022, stating that the said premises were in dilapidated condition, being an old con- struction and needs to be demolished at the earliest.
According to the High Court, it did not find any reason to hold that the impugned notice by the NMC has been issued by the Designated Officer in a manner contrary to the Act of 1949.
Advocate Sudheer Voditel and RS Renu appeared for the petitioners.Advocates Jemini Kasat (Nagpur Municipal Corportaion),ND Khamborkar (Owners) represented the respondents.
