Ashwani Kumar Singh, J.—The grievance of the petitioners who are the Members of the Empowered Standing Committee to the Patna Municipal Corporation (for shot ‘PMC’) is that the letter dated 01.04.2021 (Annexure-2) granting permission for construction of ‘Nagar Vikas Bhawan’ on 1.5 acre land owned by the PMC was issued by the then Municipal Commissioner without taking the consent of the Empowered Standing Committee of the PMC who could have legally granted the permission to construct the aforesaid building on the land in question. The further grievance of the petitioners is that vide Memo No. 34 dated 05.01.2022 (Annexure-4) i.e. much after the filing of the instant writ application on 23.07.2021, a tender has been published for the construction of ‘Nagar Vikas Bhawan’ by the respondentauthorities which is illustrative of the fact that the process to start the construction has commenced. Thus, the petitioners have prayed for quashing of the aforesaid Annexure-1 and Annexure- 4 to the present application.

2. The admitted facts of the case are that the Deputy Secretary, Urban Development and Housing Department issued letter no. 1524 dated 31.03.2021 to the PMC stating therein that the Urban Development and Housing Department has expanded with time and has multiple wings which are all functioning from different government buildings due to paucity of space. Therefore, in order to make the functioning convenient, there is a proposal for construction of ‘Nagar Vikas Bhawan’ in line with the Sardar Patel Bhawan which is currently acting as police Headquarter in the State of Bihar.

3. In order to facilitate and initiate the aforementioned construction, the Municipal Commissioner was asked to submit details regarding the 3.5 acre land situated beside the A.N. College, Patna belonging to the PMC.

4. Vide the aforesaid letter dated 31.03.2021, the Municipal Commissioner was asked to prepare a report regarding the area of vacant land on the said plot on which the said construction could be started.

5. In response to the aforesaid letter dated 31.03.2021, the PMC vide impugned letter dated 01.04.2021 informed the Principal Secretary, Urban Development and Housing Department that out of a total of 3.35 acre land, an area of 1.5 acre is vacant which may be used for construction of ‘Nagar Vikas Bhawan’.

6. The aforesaid letter dated 01.04.2021 was issued by the Municipal Commissioner, PMC without taking the consent of the Empowered Standing Committee.

7. Being aggrieved by the unilateral decision taken by the Municipal Commissioner, PMC, the petitioners filed the present application before this Court on 23.07.2021.

8. The matter was taken up by the Court on different dates. However, during pendency of the writ application, vide impugned Memo No. 34 dated 05.01.2021 (Annexure-4), which has been brought on record by way of filing a supplementary affidavit the Bihar State Building Construction Corporation Limited (a Government of Bihar undertaking) published tender for construction of ‘Nagar Vikas Bhawan’ beside A.N. College, Patna on the land owned and possessed by the PMC.

9. Ms. Mayuri, learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that the executive power of the Municipality is vested and is to be exercised by the Empowered Standing Committee. The Chief Municipal Officer who is the Principal Executive Officer by virtue of Section 27-B of the Bihar Municipal Act, 2007 is vested with the duty to carry out into effect the executive functions of the Municipality under the supervision and control of the results of the Empowered Standing Committee. But, in the present case, the consent of the Empowered Standing Committee was not taken. The Members of the Empowered Standing Committee got to know about the proposed offering of land for construction through newspaper and the matter was discussed in the 49th General Meeting of the Empowered Standing Committee conducted on 05.06.2021. The Members of the Empowered Standing Committee unanimously passed a resoluti