IMPORTANT POINTS
Writ petition filed by persons having dispute with respondent 4 is not PIL. It should not have been entertained as PIL.
Questions of fact cannot be decided under Article 226 of the Constitution.

JUDGMENT

SUDHANSU JYOTI MUKHOPADHAYA, J.

This appeal has been preferred by the appellants against the judgment and order dated 30th April, 2002 passed by the High Court of Judicature at Bombay, Nagpur Bench, Nagpur in Writ Petition No.1485 of 1984. By the impugned judgment, the High Court allowed the writ petition filed by respondent nos.5 and 6 and held as follows:

(i) The building permits granted by Nagpur Municipal Corporation to the land belonging to respondent No.4- Gorakshan Sabha, a Public Trust are unauthorized and illegal and hence buildings put up pursuant to such building permits are liable to be demolished.

(ii) The parties may make fresh applications seeking building permits within one month from the date of judgment in accordance with revised sanctioned development plan of 2000-2001 and the Planning Authority shall dispose of such applications within four months.

(iii) The Planning Authority shall demolish the said structures if they were found not in conformity with the revised sanctioned plan of 2000-2001.

2. The factual matrix of the case is as follows:

2.1 One Shri Dhondiba Diwadkar gifted land bearing Survey No. 471, admeasuring 18.25 acres situated at Mouza Lendhra, Tahsil, District Nagpur to respondent No. 4 –Gorakshan Sabha, a Public Trust. The said land was on the outskirts of Town of Nagpur and with the passage of time is now within the Municipal limits of City of Nagpur.

2.2 In the year 1936, the Nagpur Improvement Trust Act (For short, ‘1936’ Act) was enacted with a view to make provisions for the improvement and expansion of the then town of Nagpur. Under the 1936 Act a Trust namely Nagpur Improvement Trust (hereinafter referred to as ‘N.I.T’ for short) was constituted and N.I.T was empowered to frame various improvement schemes specified u/s 27 of the 1936 Act for any area and on such scheme being sanctioned by the State Government, the N.I.T. was to implement the scheme, if necessary by acquiring the land as contemplated under the 1936 Act.

2.3 With the gradual development of "Town of Nagpur" into the "City of Nagpur", the city of Nagpur Corporation Act, 1948 (for short, 'the Corporation Act') was enacted with a view to make special legislative provisions to consolidate and amend the law relating to the Municipal affairs of the City of Nagpur. Section 2 of the Corporation Act specifically provides that the N.I.T constituted under the 1936 Act shall in the city of Nagpur continue to exercise the powers and perform duties conferred and imposed under the 1936 Act. Section 3(5) of the Corporation Act provides that all the provisions of 1936 Act shall apply to the city of Nagpur. Section 5(10) of the Corporation Act defines "City of Nagpur" means the larger urban area specified in the notification issued under Clause (2) of Article 243(Q) of the Constitution of India. With the enactment of the Corporation Act, certain amendments to the 1936 Act were carried out. As a result of amendment to section 1(2) of the Trust Act, the jurisdiction of N.I.T. was extended to the area comprised within the limits of the city and to such other area outside these limits as the State Government may declare from time to time by notification. Section 2(m) of 1936 Act which was amended in 1952 provides that all references to anything required to be done under the 1936 Act shall include anything required to be done under the Corporation Act which the N.I.T by virtue of 1936 Act has power to enforce. Thus, both the Nagpur Municipal Corporation ('N.M.C' for short) constituted under the Corporation Act and the N.I.T constituted under the 1936 Act were entrusted with the responsibility of the orderly development of the city of Nagpur.

2.4 In the year 1966, the State Government enacted the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966 ('T.P. Act' for short) inter alia, with a view to make provisions for planning the development and use of lands in the regions established for that purpose and for the constitution of Regional Planning