Compliance with statutory provisions is essential for actions taken by municipal authorities, and aggrieved parties should seek redressal through appropriate legal channels.

The above Writ Appeal is directed against the common order of the learned single Judge dated 20.07.2005 made in W.P.No.18228 of 1994 along with two other writ petitions.

2. The case of the writ petitioners was that the property situated in T.S.No.936, T.P.Scheme, No.8 Race Course Road, Coimbatore, originally belonged to one Thandavan Chettiar and that by separate sale deeds executed in the year 1975, the various plots laid out in the said survey number were sold to them by the said Thandavan Chettiar and the said lay out also provided for a passage of 20 feet width. While the said private passage belongs to the petitioners, who purchased different plots sold out by the late Thandavan Chettiar with their rights to use it as a private passage to approach their respective plots from the main road, respondents 5 and 6 got a plan sanctioned in their favour by the Corporation of Coimbatore by allegedly showing this private passage which is adjacent to their property. Hence, the writ petition.

3. After hearing both sides, the learned single Judge dismissed the same along with other two petitions; against which, some writ petitioners have filed the present appeal.

4. Heard the learned counsel for both sides.

5. The petitioners filed the writ petition against the order of the Commissioner of Coimbatore Corporation dated 06.01.1987 and also the order of the Deputy Director of Town and Country Planning, Coimbatore dated 19.02.1987, through which the 2nd respondent Deputy Director approved the sub-division of the plots as per the letter dated 06.01.1987 by the Commissioner with the following conditions;

1. The construction should not be a multi-storied building in the approved sub-division part.

2. The previous plan is also applicable to the approved sub-division part.

3. The boundaries of the approved sub-divisions will not be changed without the prior permission of this office.

6. Further, the petitioners were aggrieved by the resolution No.580 dated 12.08.1986 passed by the Corporation declaring the private passage of the writ petitioners in S.No.936 T.P. Scheme No.8, Race Course Road, Coimbatore, which was purchased through separate sale deeds executed in the year 1975 by one Thandavan Chettiar, as common pathway at the instance of one Jayaraj. The contention of the writ petitioners was that by order dated 28.01.1986, the 1st respondent directed to put necessary street lights, road, drainage, etc. from the amount of Rs.31,813/-which was paid by the said Jayaraj and the action of the 1st respondent is affecting their right to usage and enjoyment of the private pathway. The learned Judge, after considering the contentions of both parties, dismissed the writ petitions holding that non-publication of the declaration made under Section 255(1) would not invalidate the same. Against which, the present appeal is filed.

7. Section 255 of the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation Act (hereinafter referred to as the Act) reads as follows:

255. Power to declare private as public street:

.(1) If any street has been levelled, paved, metalled, flagged, channelled, sewered, drained, conserved and lighted under the provisions of section 254, such street, shall on the requisition of a majority of the owners referred to in sub-section (1) of that section, be declared as a public street.

.(2) The Commissioner shall publish every declaration made under sub-section (1) in the Coimbatore District Gazette.

8. Therefore, it is clear that if a street is levelled or repaired, as per the request of majority of the owners, it shall be a public street within the meaning of the Act and the Commissioner shall publish every such declaration in the Gazette. In the case on hand, as stated by the Corporation, on an application made by one Jayaraj on behalf of various plot owners, the Corporation has passed a resolution on 12.08.1986 declaring the said passage as a public street. Pursuant to the requisition, the said Jayaraj paid the amount of Rs