The double bench of Chief Justice Barin Ghosh and Justice Servash Kumar Gupta of Uttarakhand High Court dismissed the Public Interest litigation (PIl) of Deependra Kala against the respondent State of Uttarakhand.
The High Court has also issued a notice to Nagar Palika Pauri (Garhwal) asking why they built shops on disputed land and on what capacity they sold or leased out the shops.
Advocate General UK Uniyal for the respondent 1 to 3 has submitted in the High Court Double bench that a part of the land, which was earmarked by the State Government and leased out to Nagar Palika for making park, was used for the construction of shops, which the Nagar Palika has sold / leased out to the people.
In a PIl, petitioner Dependra Kala alleged that in view of construction of these shops, the term of the lease have been violated by the Nagar Palika. The Court said that it is open to State Government / owner of the land to resume the same and thereafter to utilise the land for such purpose as the State Government may deem fit and proper.
It would be pertinent to mention here that while hearing the PIl of Dependra Kala, the Double Bench restrained the respondents concerned from making construction over the land in question Jail garden until further orders and issued notice to Nagar Palika Pauri to inform as to how soon the shops constructed over the land in question are going to be removed and Court observed that the construction of the Collectorate building would be permissible only when the State Government alternative land an area equal to that of the land in question has been earmarked for a public park.
A Public Interest litigation of Bhagwan Verma was accepted by the High Court in this regard and the counsel of this PIl Vinodanand Barthwal said that the writ filed in the case of Dependra Kala Vs respondents had been challenged under article 163 (2) of the constitution as the Governor had already sanctioned construction on the Jail
garden land. The path of the construction of Collectorate building has cleared and District Magistrate has instructed the working agency to resume the construction of new collectorate building.