Ramesh Ranganathan, J.

I. W.P. No.6814 of 2009 and C.C. No.1455 of 2010:

W.P. No.6814 of 2009 is filed in public interest, by a councillor of Zaheerabad Municipality, seeking a declaration from this Court that the action of the respondents in allotting and transferring residential plots in IDSMT colony of Zaheerabad town, without following the conditions of allotment stipulated by the first respondent, as illegal, arbitrary and without authority of law. The petitioner seeks a consequential direction to the respondents to set aside the sale of plots, and to re-allot them following the prescribed procedure. The petitioner submits that the municipal chairman's family and relatives were allotted seven plots; the vice-chairman's family and relatives were allotted more than twenty plots, of which seven were registered in the name of his wife, six in the name of his sons, and two in the name of his minor daughters; another councillor, a vocal critic of the chairman, was allotted eleven plots; around eighty plots were allotted in favour of municipal councillors and their family; twenty plots were allotted to media representatives and their relatives to ensure their silence; the land,