By the Court.—Heard Sri M.P. Singh, learned counsel for the petitioners and Sri Vivek Verma, learned counsel for the Kanpur Development Authority as well as the Nagar Nigam, Kanpur Nagar.

2. A road widening is taking place and under the said scheme, the road which is sought to be widened, is to be extended to the width of 250 ft. As a result of such road widening, the petitioners contend that their constructions in the colony adjacent to the road are being removed in the name of encroachment.

3. The ground for challenge is that the petitioners have been already settled with the houses which are standing in the area in question under the U.P. Slum Areas (Improvement and Clearance) Act, 1962. For this they have relied on their particular house Nos. which have been protected under the notification issued by the State Government on 30.4.1982, copy whereof has been filed as Annexure-1 to the writ petition.

4. The contention of Sri Singh is that if the house of the petitioners stand protected under the said notification then they cannot be cleared of in the name of encroachment or road widening as the petitioners would in that event require rehabilitation or even otherwise compensation. Such an action can only be permitted after it is ascertained as to whether the petitioners are entitled to such protection or not.

5. We, therefore, find it necessary to dispose of this writ petition with a direction to the Development Authority and the Nagar Nigam both to proceed only after disposing of the objections of the petitioners in accordance with law keeping in view the aforesaid provisions of 1962 Act and the Master Plan or any other law that may have come into force after the 1962 Act and its impact thereon.

6. It is noticed that Public Interest Litigation No. 44530 of 2013 was filed before this Court in respect of the same road which is sought to be widened and the following judgement was delivered on 29.8.2013, which is quoted below:

Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner, the learned counsel for the Kanpur Nagar Nigam and the learned counsel for the State.

This writ petition has been filed by way of Public Interest Litigation to seek directions from this Court for removal of various kinds of encroachments/unauthorized constructions on 250 Feet wide road as per the master plan of Kanpur Mahanagar.

According to the representation dated 12.6.2013 contained in Annexure-1 the stretch of PWD road proposed to be 250 Feet wide from Tat Mill Chawraha, Babu Purva Police Station to Yashoda Nagar, which is adjoining to Transport Nagar is a very busy road and the residents as well as the rushing traffic are suffering on account of frequent congestions on account of encroachments made by more than hundred truck bodybuilders and auto service stands where trucks are parked in a haphazard manner for the purposes of repair etc. Examples of such unauthorized constructions have also been furnished in the representation. Fruits and vegetables vendors are also allegedly creating permanent impediments in the flow of traffic on that road.

Learned counsel for the State has received instructions apparently from the Authorities of the Traffic Police who have suggested that to remove encroachments from various places in Kanpur Town in an effective manner, a joint Cell for removal of encroachments needs to be created so that the Kanpur Municipal Corporation, the Traffic Police and the Public Works Department may participate in that Cell and cooperate with each other to carryout much required and sustained movements for removal of such encroachments as pointed out by the petitioner.

Learned counsel for the Kanpur Municipal Corporation has assured this Court that if the District Magistrate and the District Police provide cooperation, the Corporation shall take necessary steps and control the menace of encroachments on the road in question effectively within a short time.

In the facts of the case we direct the District Magistrate, Kanpur Nagar (responde