Mr. Rakesh Kumar Jain, J.:- The petitioners have challenged the order dated 23.07.2015 passed by respondent no.2, by which the property of the petitioners has been sealed under Section 263A of the Haryana Municipal Corporation Act, 1994 (hereinafter referred to as the “Act”) and prayed for issuance of a direction to respondent no.2 to open the seal and regularize their property in terms of the order dated 08.07.2013 passed by the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Karnal.

2. In short, the property bearing No.7B-556/97, Imambada, Sadar Bazar, Karnal, was owned by Gurdial Singh @ Gulzar Singh, predecessor-ininterest of the petitioners. He had raised construction of a godown of 11' x 40' for storing wood for commercial purposes in the area falling in the residential zone, without obtaining proper approval of the concerned authorities. He was served with a notice dated 15.10.2007 to demolish the illegal building within 7 days, failing which he was asked to pay fine. He did not respond to the said notice and, thus, a Complaint No.66/08, under Section 208 of the Haryana Municipal Act, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as the “Act of 1973”), was filed before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Karnal on 27.11.2007 against the illegal commercial construction raised in the residential zone. While that matter was pending, the respondent-corporation returned the building plans submitted by the owner, in original, vide Memo No.1015 dated 26.05.2008, asking him to remove the defects and re-submit the same. The owner, namely, Gurdial Singh @ Gulzar Singh (since deceased) suffered a statement before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Karnal, that he is ready to compound the unauthorized construction as per the Rules of the Municipal Committee and hence, the said complaint was withdrawn, as recorded in the order dated 08.07.2013.

3. Thereafter, one Ashok Maggu, who is residing in the adjoining house to the unauthorized commercial building of the petitioners, filed a complaint to the Chief Minister through Chief Minister Grievance Redressal and Monitoring System, alleging apprehension of danger to his life due to construction of commercial godown in a narrow 8 feet wide road situated in a fully residential colony. On the said complaint, the respondent-corporation inspected the site and found that the violation was still in continuation. Thus, a notice dated 19.01.2015 under Section 261 of the Act was served upon petitioner no.2, asking to demolish the unauthorized construction and restore the same to its original condition within a period of 10 days, otherwise the same was ordered to be demolished by the Corporation, at their risks and costs. Since the petitioners did not take any action, therefore, another notice dated 04.02.2015 was issued to them to demolish the unauthorized construction within a period of 48 hours. After the receipt of the aforesaid notices, the petitioners submitted the letters dated 05.02.2015 and 11.02.2015 stating therein that they are ready to compound the unauthorized construction as per the statement given before the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Karnal on 08.07.2013. Thereafter, they were given another opportunity to convert their commercial construction into residential one and get the same compounded within 10 days vide letter dated 03.04.2015. The petitioners submitted the building plans on 13.04.2015, which was sent to the District Town Planner for the comments vide letter dated 16.04.2015. The District Town Planner, after examining the issue, observed as under:-

“1. Hall and kitchen are not habitable as they are under lit and the proper ventilation is required. As per rules of ventilation, it is required to provide rear set back.

2. The toilet is proposed under stairs & elevation of proposed toilet is not shown so that the clear height of toilet can be ascertained.”

4. Since the aforesaid violations were non-compoundable, therefore, the petitioners were directed to re-submit the plans after removing the said violatio