JUDGMENT - V.S. SIRPURKAR, J.:---This writ petition has been filed at the instance of about 400 shopkeepers of Jaripatka locality at Nagpur who claim to have formed an Association. The petitioner No. 2 who is also a member of that Association has joined in his individual capacity probably because the said Association is not a registered Association. There is a list on record along with the reply of the Corporation filed by the respondent No. 3 Corporation mentioning the details of 305 members. Perusal of the list suggests that number of members are occupying their shops in the capacity of tenants thereof while in respect of others it is discreatly avoided to be told as to in what capacity the said persons are the occupiers of the shops in question. The detailed reference to this list will be made later on.

2.The precise complaint of the petitioners is that they are the occupiers of the shops which have been constructed by them only on either side of Jaripatka Main Bazar Road as also on some other roads in Jaripatka locality and that they are doing their business in the shops. It is claimed and not seriously disputed that Jaripatka locality was settled for the refugees from West Pakistan, almost all of whom were Sindhis. It is claimed and seen from the list that most of the members of the petitioner No. 1. Association appear to be Sindhis. It is again a common ground that these being the displaced persons from West Pakistan were allotted the plots in Jaripatka area for the purposes of their rehabilitation. It is their further claim that though some area was earmarked for shopping complex in Jaripatka in or about 1984 the said land was allotted to the members of public for residential purposes and the regular allottees erected their respective houses on those plots. It is also an admitted position that these very persons having no other land started using the lands infront of their respective houses and constructed the shops right in front of their respective houses on both the sides of the main Jaripatka road with the result that the road which was originally a very broad road has almost become a lane. The petitioners further claim that they have been paying the taxes to the Nagpur Municipal Corporation but it is discreetly avoided to be stated in the petition as to whether the said taxes are for the houses alone or also for the shops which are standing on the encroached portions. It is the further contention of the petitioners that in the year 1993, the Nagpur Improvement Trust started a drive to demolish the constructions for removing the encroachments made on either side of the Main Road. It is, therefore, that all the occupants of the shop sites held a meeting with one Abdul Qadir the then Chairman of the Standing Committee of the City of Nagpur Municipal Corporation the respondent No. 3 herein. It is then suggested that in that meeting it was decided that the Main Road of Jaripatka should be kept 30 feet wide and the shopkeepers who had encroached should remove their encroachments to see that the Main Road and Jaripatka remains 30 feet wide. It is claimed that a representation dated 21-6-1993 for this purpose was made to the Commissioner, Nagpur Division, Nagpur who had issued the instructions and on these instructions, the Collector, Nagpur by his letter dated 23-6-1993 had addressed to one Sindhi Social Service Society, Jaripatka calling upon to submit documentary evidence showing the position of the shop-owners for more than 40 years. It is claimed that the documents were submitted accordingly before the Collector with the idea to get the said encroachments regularised or at least to get alternative site. It is claimed that nothing has been done on the basis of those letters or even the subsequent letter dated 23-6-1993. It is further claimed that on 19-6-1996, the Government Agencies, namely, State of Maharashtra, respondent No. 2 Nagpur Improvement Trust and respondent No. 3 Nagpur Municipal Corporation started removi

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