Rejection of a lease deed for a residential plot based on facility area classification, previously invalidated by tribunal, violates Article 14 due to unequal treatment.

ORDER :

1. The present writ petition has been filed with the following prayer :-

“i) By issuing appropriate writ, order or direction or nature thereof thereby, to direct the respondents to issue/allot the patta/lease deed of Plot No.8, Tara Nagar-B, Jhotwara, Jaipur in favour of the petitioner with immediate effect treating the said plot to be residential in nature excluding the same from the category of facility area;

ii) Any other order which this Hon’ble Court may deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the present case in favour of the petitioner;

iii) Cost of the writ petition may also be awarded in favour of the petitioner.”

2. The writ petition has been filed with following facts :

2.1 On 11.07.1981, the Mutual Housing Cooperative Society Ltd., Jaipur allotted a residential Plot No.8, Tara Nagar-B, Jhotwara, Jaipur measuring 373 sq. yrds (for brevity “the plot in question”) to one Shri Ashok Kumar S/o Hari Narayan and issued patta in his favour. The cooperative society, after making allotment has forwarded the list of allottees to JDA, Jaipur, which also contains the name of the original allottee Shri Ashok Kumar.

2.3 Present petitioner purchased the said plot through registered sale deed dated 02.01.1986 and raised construction of residential house thereupon. Petitioner’s family has been residing in the said house from last four decades.

2.4 Petitioner applied to JDA, Jaipur on 11.12.2000 for issuance of lease deed and also deposited requisite fee for the same. However, the respondent - JDA vide order dated 01.03.2005 has refused to grant the lease deed in favour of the petitioner stating inter alia that the said plot forms part of the facility area shown in the layout plan.

2.5 Being aggrieved by the order dated 01.03.2005, the petitioner preferred an appeal before the JDA Appellate Tribunal, Jaipur. The Appellate Tribunal decided the said appeal vide order dated 15.06.2006 and recorded a clear finding that in the said facility area, the other five plots have already been regularized, therefore, the action of the JDA, Jaipur in not issuing lease deed in favour of petitioner is not legally valid and sustainable in the eye of law. On such observation, the Appellate Tribunal has remanded the matter back to the JDA, Jaipur and directed to pass appropriate orders upon the application to be filed by the petitioner along with all the necessary documents.

2.6 Learned counsel for the petitioner has also placed on record the decision of the JDA, Jaipur dated 01.09.2006 whereby it was resolved not to challenge the order dated 15.06.2006. Thus, the findings recorded by the Appellate Tribunal attained finality.

2.7 It is further averred that in pursuance of the order dated 15.06.2006, petitioner already submitted application along with the necessary documents to the JDA, however, no action, after remand, was taken by the JDA.

2.8 In the meantime, the area in question was transferred to Jaipur Municipal Corporation and therefore, the petitioner submitted a fresh application to the Jaipur Municipal Corporation for issuance of the lease deed in favour of the petitioner. However, the Empowered Committee of Jaipur Municipal Corporation in its decision dated 26.12.2017 has again rejected the application of the petitioner on the same ground that the plot of the petitioner forms part of the facility area.

2.9 Challenging the said action, the present writ petition has been filed by the petitioner.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner has argued that the reason for rejection of the petitioner’s application that the plot in question falls within the facility area, has already been declared as illegal by the