INDORE MUNICIPAL CORPN & ANR v. HARISH TOLANI

Supreme Court of India · 24 Feb 2016
Kurian Joseph; Rohinton Fali Nariman
CIVIL APPEAL NO. 4088 OF 2008
administrative appeal_dismissed Significant

AI Summary

The Supreme Court upheld the High Court's ruling that municipal authorities have the power to compound unauthorized constructions before ordering demolition, dismissing the appeal of the Indore Municipal Corporation.

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IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CIVIL APPEAL NO. 4088 OF 2008
INDORE MUNICIPAL CORPN & ANR. Appellant(s)
VERSUS
HARISH TOLANI Respondent(s)
JUDGMENT
KURIAN, J.

1. All that the High Court has done in the impugned Judgment is to remove the observations made by the learned Single Judge that the Commissioner or the Municipal Corporation does not have the power to compound any illegal construction.

2. The Division Bench of the High Court has further clarified that in the joint inspection, if any illegal construction is noticed, the Commissioner should first consider whether the unauthorised construction can be compounded before ordering for demolition of the said construction.

3. The learned counsel appearing for the Corporation submits that even going by the direction of the Division Bench of the High Court, the compounding cannot be permitted under law beyond a certain Page 2 percentage of the alleged unauthorised contruction.

4. These are all matters to be verified on a joint inspection to be conducted by the Commissioner with the present owner of the building and it is for the Commissioner to take appropriate action under law thereafter.

5. Thus, we see no merit in the appeal; it is, accordingly, dismissed, subject to the above observations ........................ J. [ KURIAN JOSEPH ] ....................... J. [ ROHINTON FALI NARIMAN ] New Delhi; February 24, 2016.