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2015 Supreme(P&H) 1117
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA
[DIVISION BENCH]
Before
The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Hemant Gupta
The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Shekher Dhawan
CWP No.21942 of 2013 (O&M)
Pawan Bhatia & Ors.
v.
State of Haryana & Ors.
{Decided on 26/08/2015}
For the Petitioners:Mr. Puneet Bali, Sr. Advocate, with Mr. Vinod S. Bhardwaj, Advocate.
For the Respondent: Mr. Lokesh Sinhal, Addl. AG, Haryana.
For the Respondent Nos. 4 & 5:Mr. R.S. Cheema, Senior Advocate, with Mr. Shekhar Verma, Advocate.
For the Respondent No.6:Mr. Aashish Chopra, Advocate.
For the Respondent No.7:Mr. Arun Monga, Advocate and Mr. Kanwal Goyal, Advocate.
Headnote:Group Housing Society--Grant of licence on the basis of first come first served basis is not a fair, reasonable and transparent method.
Group Housing Society--Grant of Licence is a privilege extented by State--Action of the State, whether it relates to distribution of largesse, grant of contracts or allotment of land, is to be tested on the touchstone of Article 14 of the Constitution.
(A) Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, 1975--Group Housing Society--Grant of licence on the basis of first come first served basis is not a fair, reasonable and transparent method--Licences granted are cancelled--State Government may consider the grant of licences after framing a transparent and fair policy to grant privilege of licence. (Paras 29 to 32)
(B) Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, 1975--Group Housing Society--Grant of Licence--Submission of Development Plan--The development plan as contemplated by the 1975 Act is a Final Development Plan--Therefore, the action of the authorities in accepting the applications on the basis of the Draft Development Plan is wholly unwarranted, unjustified, illegal, irrational, arbitrary and against the express provisions of the 1975 Act. (Paras 25 & 26)
(C) Constitution of India, 1950, Art.14--Group Housing Society--Grant of Licence is a privilege extented by State--Action of the State, whether it relates to distribution of largesse, grant of contracts or allotment of land, is to be tested on the touchstone of Article 14 of the Constitution--The action has to be fair, reasonable, non-discriminatory, transparent, non-capricious, unbiased, without favouritism or nepotism, in pursuit of promotion of healthy competition and equitable treatment--It should conform to the norms which are rational, informed with reasons and guided by public interest, etc--Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, 1975. (Para 28)
Mr. Hemant Gupta, J.:- The petitioners have claimed a writ of mandamus directing an inquiry into the functioning of the Department of Town and Country Planning, Haryana, whereby the licences and/or the change of land use has been granted in an arbitrary manner and for illegal consideration. The petitioners have also sought to set aside the order dated 20.9.2013 (Annexure P.17), whereby an appeal filed by the petitioners against the rejection of their claim for grant of licence, stands dismissed. Such appeal was directed against an order dated 16.9.2011 passed by the Director General, Town and Country Planning, Haryana.
2. The petitioners are owners of land measuring 108 kanal 19 marla (13.61875 acres) in the revenue estate of village Ullawas, Tehsil and District Gurgaon. As per the petitioners, the minimum area for grant of licence for a Group Housing Colony is 10 acres. The petitioners applied for licence for developing a Group Housing Colony in terms of the Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, 1975 (for short ‘the 1975 Act’) on 10.9.2010, received by the respondents on 13.9.2010. The petitioners state that they meet the criteria for grant of licence even if partition of the land measuring 13 kanal 15 marla was pending at that time as it came to be decided on 22.12.2011. It is pointed out that, on the other hand, the Director General, Department of Town and Country Planning, Haryana, has granted licences to the private respondents by seeking removal of deficiencies by such respondents, though the similar treatment was not extended to the petitioner.
3. The undisputed facts are that earlier a Final Development Plan was published on 5.2.2007 under Section 5 of the Punjab Schedule Roads and Controlled Areas Restriction of Unregulated Development Act, 1963 (for short ‘the 1963 Act’). The land of the petitioners falls within the Municipal limits of Gurgaon and is located towards southern side of Sector 60 but was not assigned any use under the said Development Plan. The petitioners sought a licence for Group Housing by depositing security to the tune of Rs.9.65 lacs vide demand draft dated 7.9.2010. As per the petitioners, no deficiency was pointed out in respect of the application submitted.
4. Another Draft Development Plan- 2025 was published on 4.10.2010 on the basis of layout drawing dated 25.8.2010. The southern side of Sectors 59, 60 and 63 was given a nomenclature of Sector 63-A. In terms of the Draft Development Plan published, public at large was given 30 days’ time to file objections. It is also pointed out that a public notice (Annexure P.6) was published in the newspapers on 4.10.2010 though the same is dated 1.10.2010. The public advertisement reads as under:-
“It is informed to the General Public that amendment in Final Development Plan, Gurgaon Manesar Urban Complex published vide Haryana Government Gazette (Extra Ordinary) Notification No.CCP9NCR/FDP (G) 2007 / 359, dated 05.02.2007 is being carried out for which the state level committee meeting was held 27.09.2010. It has been observed that application are being received in the Department for granting Change of Land Use permission and licence application are being received in the Department for granting Change of Land Use permission and licence applications on the basis of such proposed amendment. The draft Development Plan of said Gurgaon-Manesar Urban Complex for perspective year 2025 will be published as per Section 5 (4) of the Punjab Schedule Roads and Controlled Areas Restriction of Unregulated Development Act, 1963 for inviting the objections and suggestions. Though a person can apply on the basis of the Draft Development Plan- 2025 after publication in the Official Gazette, it does not confer any right in favour of the applicant with respect to grant of change of Land Use Permission and Licence which will not granted till the publications of Final Development Plan Gurgaon-Manesar Urban Complex-2025 under Section 5(7) of the ibid
