Splay requirements under Rule 23(4) of the Kerala Municipality Building Rules do not apply to roads with widths less than 5 meters, and provisions should be interpreted according to their expressed stipulations without imposing interpretations that contravene statutory terms.

JUDGMENT

The petitioner is the owner in possession of 4.5 ares of land comprised in Re-Sy No. 556/10 (Old Sy. No.2130/4-4) in Block No.23 of Peroorkada Village, Thiruvananthapuram Taluk and District, as per Ext.P1 sale deed of year 2006. It is stated that the same is a plot surrounded by residential buildings. For the ingress and egress, including vehicular access to the petitioner's property and the neighbours, there is a road having a width of 3.5m with a length of 35m starting from the Pappadu-Nettayam PWD Road. The petitioner submits that his property is at the end of the said road which is a cul-de-sac and that, he has to go past the property of respondents 5 and 6 to reach his property.

2. It is alleged that, in the year 2021, the 5^th and 6^th respondents purchased the land on the north east side of the petitioner's property with Pappadu- Nettayam PWD Road as its northern boundary. It is alleged that respondents 5 and 6 illegally constructed a compound wall on the western side of their property without providing sufficient splay, as per the rules. It is also alleged that they had encroached on the Pappad-Nettayam PWD Road and also, and the access road was reduced by about 20 cm while constructing the compound wall.

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3. As stated above, the petitioner contends that the party respondents had constructed their compound wall without providing sufficient splay, which is against the Kerala Municipality Building Rules ( KMBR ), 2019, which has the effect of denying the petitioner vehicular access, including emergency vehicles like ambulance, fire engine, etc. It is stated that, based on Ext.P3 complaint made by the petitioner, Ext.P13 stop memo was issued to respondents 5 and 6. Defying the said stop memo, construction was carried on and completed. Based on the above contentions, the petitioner prays for directing respondents 3 and 4 to stop all further construction of the compound wall in Re.Sy.No. 556/10 (Old Sy. No.2130/4-4) in Block No.23 of Peroorkada Village, Thiruvananthapuram Taluk and District. There is also a prayer to demolish the unauthorised construction of the compound wall.

4. A counter has been filed on behalf of respondents 5 and 6 disputing the contentions of the petitioner and submitting that, they had purchased the property, as per Ext.R-5(a) sale deed, on 1.7.2021 measuring an extent of 1.90 ares and 13 sq.m. in Old Sy.No. 2130/4-4 and in Re-Sy.Nos. 556/51-2 and 556/52-2 of Peroorkada Village. The respondents have also produced the location plan and sketch appended to the sale deed. They contended that they had obtained Ext.R-5(e) building permit on 14.9.2021 and Ext.R5(f) approved plan on 16.9.2021, based on which they have commenced the construction. It is also submitted that, the property of the petitioner as well as the respondents originally belonged to one Krishna Kumar M., who was residing on the south-eastern side of the respondents' property and that, the ownership over the private road giving access to the property of the petitioner is vested with the said person and till date, he has not complained about the construction of the compound wall on the western side of the property of the respondents. It is submitted that the construction of the compound wall on the western side is legal and going by Rule 23(4) of the Kerala Municipality Building Rules , 2019, at road junctions, including 'Y' junctions, splay shall be as provided in the rules. However, the proviso